Marauders Beat Manatees 5-4

MELBOURNE – The Marauders (31-30) rallied from down 4-0 to defeat the Brevard County Manatees (31-29) 5-4 in 12 inning on Friday night at Space Coast Stadium. The comeback was bookended by solo home runs from Jose Osuna and Josh Bell. Thomas Harlan (W, 2-2) and Bryton Trepagnier (S, 4) combined for five scoreless innings out of the bullpen for Bradenton.

Bell belted his sixth home run of the season off Mike Strong (L, 1-1) in the 12^th. The homer came after Bell had started 0-for-5, one night after recording a five-hit game. Strong pitched all three extra innings for the Manatees.

Jason Creasy allowed one earned run over a season-high seven innings, but three Bradenton errors contributed to three unearned runs against the Bradenton starter. Creasy did not walk a batter and struck out three.

The Marauders were stymied for six innings by Chad Pierce, and trailed 4-0 into the bottom of the seventh. Osuna blasted a solo shot off reliever Scott Lieser leading off the inning. Jacob Stallings added a two-out double in the inning, but was left in scoring position.

Walker Gourley extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a single to center off Lieser with one out in the eighth. Bell then reached on an error to put men on the corners. A wild pitch during Jordan Steranka’s at-bat moved Bell to second, and Steranka then singled home Gourley to trim the lead to 4-2. Bell was held at third and Mark Williams was summoned to replace Lieser. Osuna hit a sacrifice fly to left to score Bell and cut the lead to 4-3.

Williams blew his first save of the season in the ninth. A throwing error by Orlando Arcia allowed Jeff Roy to reach second with nobody out. Stallings bunted Roy over to third. Raul Fortunato singled Roy home to knot the score. Fortunato was stranded at third.

Brevard County threatened against Harlan in the bottom of the 11^th, putting two on with two outs, but Harlan induced a fielder’s choice off Arcia’s bat to end the threat. Fortunato was thrown out at the plate in the top half of the same inning on Adam Frazier’s single to keep the game tied.

Trepagnier set down the Manatees in order in the home half of the 12^th while earning his third save.

The fourth and final game of the series is Saturday at 6:35 p.m. Tyler Glasnow will be on the mound for the Marauders, with Jorge Lopez getting the ball for the Manatees. The game will be broadcast online at www.BradentonMarauders.com.

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