Bradenton 6, Lakeland 2

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LAKELAND – The Marauders (56-46, 21-12) climbed to within 1.5 games of first place with a 6-2 win over the Flying Tigers (50-50, 8-25) on Friday night at Joker Marchant Stadium. Chad Kuhl (W, 11-5) matched Nathan Adcock for the most wins in a single season by a Marauder, tossing five innings and striking out three while allowing two runs.

The Marauders plated two runs in the first against Tommy Collier (L, 1-1). Adam Frazier walked to start the game and Max Moroff followed with a bunt single. Frazier alertly took third base on Moroff’s hit, and scored one out later on a balk. Moroff scored when Eric Wood reached on a two-out error.

James Robbins homered in the second for Lakeland, his second of the series and 14^th of the year to trim the lead to 2-1, but Bradenton answered quickly. Walker Gourley singled in one run and Jacob Stallings doubled home two more to put the Marauders up 5-1. Stallings finished 2-for-4 with two doubles, while Gourley went 3-for-4 with a double and two runs driven in, along with a run scored and a stolen base.

Ryan Hafner retired all nine batters he faced in relief of Kuhl. Hafner struck out three. Josh Smith pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning. The last 13 Flying Tigers batters were retired in succession.

Game three of the series is at 6:00 on Saturday night. John Kuchno goes to the hill for Bradenton, while Lakeland counters with Yorfrank Lopez. The game will be broadcast online at www.BradentonMarauders.com.

The box score for Friday's game can be seen here; the Play-by-Play review can be viewed here.