Marauders Shutout Cardinals for Second Consecutive Night

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JUPITER – The Marauders (8-5) remained in a tie for first in the South Division by shutting out the Palm Beach Cardinals (6-7) for a second consecutive night at Roger Dean Stadium. The 4-0 win completes a series sweep of the Cardinals and a 4-2 road trip for the Marauders. Palm Beach didn’t advance a runner past second base in the final 19 innings of the series.

John Kuchno (W, 2-1) bounced back from his road trip opening loss by firing two-hit ball for six innings. Kuchno walked three and struck out one. Thomas Harlan pitched two scoreless innings and struck out a pair. Robby Rowland pitched the ninth inning, striking out one and inducing a double play grounder to face the minimum.

Bradenton jumped in front in the first. Adam Frazier singled to center leading off the game against Mike Mayers (L, 0-1). Walker Gourley singled to right on a hit-and-run. A wild throw to first attempting to catch Gourley rounding the bag allowed Frazier to score. Josh Bell followed with a third straight Marauders single, putting men at the corners. Jordan Steranka’s sacrifice fly brought home Gourley with a second first inning tally to put Bradenton in front 2-0.

Steranka led off the Marauders fourth with a double. Max Moroff followed with a two-bagger of his own to extend the lead to 3-0. The last offense of the game was mustered in the fifth. Frazier and Gourley hit consecutive one-out singles. Gourley was thrown out at second trying to advance on a throw to third following his base hit. With two outs, Bell tripled off the wall in right to score Frazier and establish the final 4-0 margin.

The Marauders return home to face the Jupiter Hammerheads in a three-game series that begins Thursday night at McKechnie Field. Orlando Castro will start for the Marauders. Castro is 2-0 on the season. The game is a Thirsty Thursday presented by Budweiser and Ticket Sarasota. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. and gates open at 5:30 p.m.

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