Sabato homers again in extra innings loss to Marauders

BRADENTON, Fla. (August 14, 2021) – Aaron Sabato launched his fourth home run of the series Saturday, but the Bradenton Marauders walked off with a 2-1 win in 10 innings at LECOM Park.

Sabato cranked a game-tying solo shot to left center in the top of the eighth inning, his team-leading tenth home run of the season. After recording just four home runs through his first 71 games, the New York native has now hit six homers in his last eight. Saturday’s blast left the bat at 105.4 mph.

Fort Myers (44-41) got excellent pitching Saturday, but could not come through with runners on base. The Mussels went 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

Bobby Milacki started the game and struck out six over four solid innings, allowing just three hits. The bullpen then logged five innings without surrendering an earned run. John Stankiewicz and Aaron Rozek each went two scoreless frames.

With the game tied 1-1 in the bottom of the tenth, Denny Bentley issued a wild pitch to allow the winning run to advance to third base. Jase Bowen then lined a base hit down the right field line to help the Marauders (53-33) walk off with the series. Bradenton is now 9-7 against Fort Myers this season, with eight more matchups remaining. The Marauders extended their lead to 8.5 games over the Mussels for the final playoff spot in the Low-A Southeast Saturday, with 32 games to play.

With Tropical Storm Fred looming, the Mussels will enjoy two days off before beginning a six-game series with the Dunedin Blue Jays on Tuesday. Coverage of the series opener begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.