Mussels Squander Early Lead, Fall to Marauders 10-5

BRADENTON, Fla. (July 3, 2024) – The Mighty Mussels jumped ahead 4-0 in the first inning before the Bradenton Marauders scored 10 unanswered runs to win 10-5 Wednesday night at LECOM Park.

In the top of the first, Walker Jenkins walked to put the leadoff man aboard for Fort Myers (39-37, 8-3). Centerfielder Byron Chourio followed with a single to set up first and second. Two batters later, Matthew Clayton connected on a two-run double to right field to put the Mussels ahead 2-0. Shortstop Nick Lucky followed with an RBI triple into the right field corner to make it 3-0. With one out, Maddux Houghton then lifted a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 4-0.

Mussels’ starter Ross Dunn (1-2) worked through a scoreless first inning and retired the first two batters in the second before running into trouble. A walk to shortstop Javier Rivas gave the Marauders (35-43, 5-7) a two-out baserunner. Solomon Maguire followed with an infield single. Wesley Zapata then crushed a double to left field, plating both runners to make it 4-2. Third baseman Jeral Toledo followed with a single to left to cut it to 4-3.

With one out in the fourth, first baseman Axiel Plaz homered to left field to tie the game 4-4. Enmanuel Terrero followed with a walk. The next batter was Miguel Sosa, who connected on a two-run shot to left to put the Marauders in front 6-4. There was then a 32-minute weather delay before Ben Ethridge came in from the bullpen to retire the side.

Bradenton starter Hung-Leng Chang (4-5) shut down the Mussels’ offense after the first inning, firing four straight scoreless frames to complete his outing.

The Marauders tacked on four additional runs across their final three offensive innings to take a 10-4 lead into the ninth.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Mussels scored on Chourio’s third hit of the game to make it 10-5 as Angel Del Rosario came in to score.

The Mussels return to action on Thursday, July 4 as the teams head to Hammond Stadium for the final three games of the series. Spencer Bengard (5-1, 1.51) takes the ball for Fort Myers, opposite Aaron Shortridge (0-1, 9.00) of Bradenton. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m with coverage beginning on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network at 6:45 p.m.