Fort Myers Wins 7-1 Over Marauders

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BRADENTON – Fort Myers (35-24, 76-52) blasted three home runs in a 7-1 win over the Marauders (35-23, 70-58) on Wednesday night at McKechnie Field. The loss dropped the Marauders into a tie for first place with the Palm Beach Cardinals. The Miracle are a half game behind the leaders.

Jason Creasy (L, 6-9) pitched six innings and struck out four for the Marauders. With the Miracle already leading 1-0 in the second, Max Kepler blasted a home run to right field to double the visitors’ advantage. Tyler Grimes smashed a three-run home run in the fifth inning to give Fort Myers a 5-0 lead.

The Marauders best chance to score against Steven Gruver came in the bottom of the fourth. Jordan Steranka and Jose Osuna connected for consecutive singles to start the inning. Steven Gruver dropped a toss from first baseman Dalton Hicks on Justin Howard’s grounder, loading the bases with nobody out. Eric Wood hit the ball on the nose, but directly to Hicks. Hicks snared the line drive and doubled off Howard. Gruver struck out Max Moroff to end the inning.

Jason Kanzler capped the scoring for the Miracle in the seventh with a two-run home run off Tyler Sample. Bradenton scored its only run against reliever B.J. Hermsen in the eighth on Wood’s RBI single to score Steranka.  

The Marauders look to salvage the series finale on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Chad Kuhl will be on the mound for the Marauders.

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