Marauders Beat Stone Crabs 6-5

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BRADENTON – The Marauders (17-16) rallied for four runs in the last of the ninth to erase a 5-2 deficit and snag a 6-5 win over the Charlotte Stone Crabs (16-17) on Wednesday night at McKechnie Field. Jonathan Schwind’s hard single to center with two outs scored Jeff Roy from second base to cap the rally.

Jin-De Jhang led off the ninth with an infield single to second base against Ben Griset (L, 0-1). Jhang was forced out as Gourley reached on a fielder’s choice on a slow chopper to second. Taylor Lewis and D.J. Crumlich smacked consecutive singles to load the bases with one away. Following a visit to the mound, Griset induced a two-hopper to first base off the bat of Jeff Roy. The ball crept under the glove of Patrick Leonard for a two-run error that allowed Crumlich to reach third while trimming the lead to 5-4, forcing a pitching change.

Parker Markel took over on the hill to face Adam Frazier with the tying run at third base. Frazier hit a 45-foot roller up the first base side, leaving Markel with only a play at first as Crumlich raced home to tie the game 5-5. Schwind took the first pitch of his at-bat back through the middle to bring home Roy.

Charlotte opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the second by Tyler Goeddel in the second inning against Pat Ludwig. The Stone Crabs tacked on another in the third when Leonardo Reginatto drove in Marty Gantt.

The Marauders trimmed the lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning with four singles against Roberto Gomez. Max Moroff’s RBI ground-out and Walker Gourley’s shallow fly that nestled just inside the left field line for an RBI single provided the runs.

Charlotte chased Ludwig after 5 1/3. He allowed five runs, with the final run scoring after Robby Rowland took over on the hill. Rowland tossed two innings while allowing one hit. Josh Smith (W, 1-0) pitched the final 1 2/3 innings and picked off two runners en route to his first win of the season.

The series shifts to Charlotte Sports Park on Thursday. John Kuchno will start for the Marauders against Reinaldo Lopez of the Stone Crabs. The game begins at 6:30 p.m. and will be broadcast live online at www.BradentonMarauders.com.

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