BRADENTON, Fla. (August 11, 2017) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs used a pair of three-spots Friday to defeat the Bradenton Marauders 6-1 at LECOM Park. The Stone Crabs' (56-58, 25-21) victory moves them past Bradenton (62-52, 25-22) for third place in the Southern Division of the Florida State League. Both
BRADENTON, Fla. (August 11, 2017) - The Charlotte Stone Crabs used a pair of three-spots Friday to defeat the Bradenton Marauders 6-1 at LECOM Park.
The Stone Crabs' (56-58, 25-21) victory moves them past Bradenton (62-52, 25-22) for third place in the Southern Division of the Florida State League. Both teams are within four games of Fort Myers for the second half title.
Bradenton starter Pedro Vasquez (9-6) retired the first 13 batters he faced before running into major trouble. With the game scoreless in the top of the fifth, Charlotte first baseman Nate Lowe drew a walk with one out. After a groundout advanced Lowe to second, Michael Brosseau singled to right to put the Stone Crabs in front 1-0. Thomas Milone followed by pulling a double down the right field line to move Brosseau to third. With two outs, David Rodríguez singled over the first base bag to score both runners and give Charlotte a 3-0 lead.
Stone Crabs starter Burch Smith (2-1) notched five scoreless innings Friday, allowing three hits while fanning four.
With the Stone Crabs still up three in the top of the seventh, Brosseau was hit with a pitch before Milone singled him to second. Rodriguez followed with another base hit to load the bases with no outs. Peter Maris then drew a walk to make the score 4-0. The next batter was Angel Moreno , who rolled into a double play to plate Milone and give Charlotte a 5-0 advantage. With two outs, Ryan Boldt lined a single to left to bring in Rodriguez and cap the scoring at 6-0.
Reece Karalus worked two shutout frames to maintain the lead. Fernando Baez turned in a scoreless ninth to finish off the win.
The Stone Crabs will look to clinch the series Saturday at 6:30 p.m. Eduar Lopez (8-7, 3.79) will make the start for Charlotte against Cam Vieuax (3-4, 4.53) of Bradenton. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Stone Crabs Baseball Network.
