Marauders Win Sixth Straight

Fort Myers, Fla.--- The Marauders (38-22, 73-52) and the Fort Myers Might Mussels (31-29, 65-61) for the opening contest of a six-game series on a cool and calm Tuesday night at Hammond Stadium. Bradenton homered their way to the finish line as they rolled the Mussels, winning 10-5.

The Young Bucs starter Hung-Leng Chang showed out in his best outing of the year as he tossed five innings, allowing just one earned run while striking out three hitters. Chang earned his second win of the year for his fine effort.

In the top of the first, the Marauders came out swinging, with Enmanuel Terrero smoking a ground ball up the middle for a leadoff single. The next man up, Lonnie White Jr. ground out a nine-pitch at-bat before getting rewarded with a two-run home run to left to put the good guys up 2-0.

Two batters later, Charles McAdoo hit a no-doubt blast high into the Florida night to put the black and gold up 3-0 after just half an inning.

In the bottom of the second, the Mussels pushed a run across on a throwing error committed by Marauders catcher Geovanny Planchart when he flung a throw to second into center field to make it 3-1 with the Bucs still ahead.

The Marauders scored in the top of the fourth to make it 4-1 thanks to some witty base running from Deivis Nadal but were again pegged back when Rubel Cespedes hit a solo blast to make it 4-2.

The Marauders got some much-needed insurance in the top of the seventh when Rodolfo Nolasco came up in the clutch with a two-out, two-RBI double to extend the lead to 6-2 going into the stretch.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mussels made Bradenton sweat a bit as they pieced together a three-spot to pull within a run at 6-5.

Going into the ninth, the Marauders were hoping for some insurance to gain some breathing room before going to the bottom of the ninth. With two outs, Kalae Harrison and Charles McAdoo both drew walks to bring up Rodolfo Nolasco for his second two-out RBI chance of the night.

Nolasco added to his already impressive line with an emphatic 410-foot blast to left centerfield to put Bradenton back up by four at a score of 9-5. One more run came across in the top of the last to send the Marauders to the bottom half up 10-5.

Jaden Woods was called out of the pen to slam the door on the Mussels and did so in a dominant fashion. Woods struck out the side to seal the sixth straight win for the Marauders, keeping them within 1.5 games of first with five games to go.

Game two is set for 7:00 on Wednesday night, with Wilber Dotel expected to start for Bradenton.