Bradenton Marauders 7, � Jupiter Hammerheads 3 (box)
Starter Jeff Locke struck out 10 batters in 5 innings, while allowing 3 unearned runs to earn his first win of the season. �Locke walked two batters and gave up 2 hits, but mostly just blew the Hammerheads out of the water. �He gave up a walk amid three strikeouts in the first inning, and struck out the side in the 3rd. �In the 4th, after one strikeout, Locke walked a second batter, but erased him with a double play. �Locke allowed a single in the 5th, and struck out two more. �The 6th inning began with two batters reaching base on consecutive throwing errors by 3B Jeremy Farrell. A fielder’s choice without an out loaded the bases without an out. �A double brought in two runs (unearned), and that was the end of the night for Locke.
Mike Felix took over for Locke, and he gave up an RBI grounder that brought in Jupiter’s third run. �Felix finished that inning, and gave way to Casey Erickson who pitched two scoreless innings. �Erickson worked around another throwing error by Farrell in the 7th, and retired the side in order in the 8th. �Noah Krol finished things up with a 1-2-3 9th inning.
Luckily for Farrell, he was also hitting while he was having trouble throwing. �After a walk to DH Tony Sanchez and a single by Farrell in the 3rd, C Eric Fryer blasted a 3-run homer to give the Marauders an early 3-0 lead. �Farrell also doubled in the 4th inning, though was left on base. �The Marauders took advantage of a Jupiter error in the 5th. �SS Brock Holt tripled, then scored on a throwing error by the relay man on the throw coming in from the outfield.
The Marauders batted around in the 7th inning, adding another 3 runs. �With one out, Fryer walked, and 2B Rodolfo Cardona, Brock Holt, and RF Robbie Grossman all singled. �Holt picked up an RBI and Grossman loaded the bases. �CF Starling Marte was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and LF Quincy Latimore walked to force in another run.
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Greenville Drive 6, �West Virginia Power �4 (box)
Greenville took advantage of 3 Power errors to take the win in Charleston. �Power starter Kyle McPherson had a shaky start, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks in 3.1 innings. �The Drive scored one run in the 1st inning on a walk and an RBI double, then added two more with a double and a homer in the 3rd. �The Power had the game tied after 4 innings. �1B Kyle Morgan hit his second homer of the season, a solo blast, in the 2nd inning. �Two frames later, 2B Jarek Cunningham opened the inning with a single, and went to third on DH Aaron Baker’s double. �Another double, by 3B Jesus Brito, plated both Cunningham and Baker to tie the score. �The Power scored one more run in the 7th, when Brito reached base on a fielding error, and got to second base. �LF Rogelios Noris singled, putting runners on the corners. �RF David Rubinstein grounded into a double play, which retired Noris and Rubinstein, but let Brito come in to score.
Greenville took the lead again in the 6th inning. �McPherson had exited in the 4th, after giving up a walk and a double, but reliever Jason Erickson came on and retired the next two batters on fly balls, to get out of the jam without a run scoring. �With one out in the 6th, Erickson gave up a single and a double, and he was back in the same kind of jam again. �This time, though, a fielding error by Morgan at first allowed both runners to score, and the Drive had 5 runs. �Melkin Laureano retired the Drive in order in the 7th. �In the 8th, two batters reached base due to a fielding error by C Ramon Cabrera, and a walk, but Laureano struck out the next two batters to escape the inning. �Zachary Foster pitched the final inning, and he allowed an unearned run on a double and a fielding error by CF Evan Chambers.
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