FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

Marauders Outlast Stone Crabs 2-1

Published on April 21, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


BRADENTON, FL (April 21, 2014) - Any struggling team knows that when things aren't going well, it seems like better days are far from ahead. For the better part of 10 days, the Stone Crabs offense carried them to wins they had to gut out and grind through. Following an off day, their four-game split series starting in Bradenton got off on a slow foot as the Marauders pitching carried them to their seventh win in a row with a 2-1 victory.

After collecting at least 10 hits in all three games against the Cardinals, the bats were mysteriously quiet against hard-throwing righty Pat Ludwig. A leadoff double by Patrick Leonard in the second came and went abruptly once the next three hitters failed to move him over. With two outs in the third, Andrew Toles sent a hard grounder up the middle that was mishandled by Marauders shortstop Ashley Ponce for an error. A few pitches later, Leonardo Reginatto stroked a hard liner down the left field line that rolled all the way to the corner and allowed the speedy Toles to score for a 1-0 lead. Ludwig (2-0) then fanned Tommy Coyle to end the inning, and would only allow three baserunners over his next three innings.

Roberto Gomez' ability to pitch around trouble expired in the home third after back-to-back singles by Jeff Roy and Walker Gourley opened the frame. The number three hitter, Josh Bell, then dropped a sacrifice bunt down the third base line for the first out. Roy's speed came to the forefront as the center fielder motored all the way in from second to score the tying run. Two batters later, Jordan Steranka put the Marauders ahead with an RBI groundout to score Gourley for a 2-1 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Stone Crabs third baseman Hector Guevara stroked a two-out single before stealing second base. Ludwig soon got Toles to ground out to first to end the inning. The best opportunity to tie the score came in the sixth in Ludwig's final inning. Coyle lined a one out single and stole second base before Leonard walked on four straight pitches to put the go-ahead run at first. Ludwig's very first pitch to Kes Carter was hit on a perfect line to second baseman Max Moroff, who speared it before pivoting to second and throwing out Coyle to complete the inning-ending double play.

Gomez, meanwhile, may have delivered his best start of the year, and after allowing an infield single to Gourley to start the fifth, retired the next six hitters in a row to end his night. With two outs in the eighth, Reginatto walked on four pitches against lefthander Thomas Harlan, who completed his two scoreless innings of relief with a strikeout of Coyle on just three pitches. Tyler Waldron then picked up his first save in the ninth by retiring the side in order with a pair of strikeouts to give the Marauders their seventh straight victory.

NOTES: The Stone Crabs are now 1-8 on the road and 0-3 at McKechnie FieldGomez (0-2) has now pitched six innings in three straight starts.Parker Markel retired all six batters he faced in a row as the Marauders final 12 hitters all went down in orderthe four hits by Charlotte is the second lowest total so far this season (picked up just two hits in a 4-2 loss in Bradenton on April 5)all seven Marauders base hits were singlesthe 5-8 hitters in the Stone Crabs order combined to go 0-for-14the 2 hour and 11 minute game was the shortest of the seasonCharlotte (5-12) is now a season-worst seven games under .500.

The teams meet again Tuesday night in Bradenton at 6:30 PM before the series returns to Charlotte Sports Park on Wednesday and Thursday night. Reinaldo Lopez (1-1, 7.24 ERA) will aim for his second straight win against Bradenton's John Kuchno (2-1, 3.68 ERA). You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 6:10 PM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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Florida State League Stories from April 21, 2014


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