Lakeland Beats Bradenton 4-3 in First Game of Series

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LAKELAND – The Lakeland Flying Tigers (50-49, 8-24) rallied for two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and fended off three potential Bradenton Marauders (20-12, 55-46) to take Thursday’s series opener 4-3 at Joker Marchant Stadium. Shane Carle (L, 1-2) pitched seven innings and struck out five without issuing a walk for the Marauders. He allowed four runs, three of which were earned.

Lakeland scored the game’s first two runs. Curt Powell singled with one out in the third, stole second, advanced to third on a ground out, and scored on Chad Wright’s two-out single. James Robbins doubled the lead to 2-0 by clubbing his 13^th home run in the fourth.

The Marauders struck back in the fifth. Max Moroff doubled, Jin-De Jhang tripled to put the Marauders on the board, then scored to tie the game 2-2 on a single by Justin Maffei. Walker Gourley tripled to plate Maffei and put the Marauders in front.

In the decisive sixth inning, Wright led off with a single to center and scored on a double by Conner Harrell. Jeff McVaney slashed a single to right field to score the go-ahead run.

Cal Drummond (W, 3-3) picked up the win in relief. Brennan Smith struck out the side in the ninth to earn his seventh save.

Game two of the series is Saturday night at 7:11 p.m. Chad Kuhl seeks his league leading 11^th win of the season. The game will be broadcast online at www.BradentonMarauders.com.

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