The Lakeland Flying Tigers (50-57, 19-23) exploded for 12 runs on 12 hits and saw all nine hitters record a hit in Wednesday’s 12-3 win over the Bradenton Marauders (47-61, 16-27) at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Tigers first-round pick Cameron Flukey made his organizational debut, getting the start and going 1.1 innings. He did not allow a hit while striking out two and walking a pair while hitting one batter.
Lakeland opened the scoring with five runs in the second inning off starter Zander Mueth. Jesus Pinto drew a leadoff walk, stole second and moved to third on a throwing error on the steal. Hunter Dobbins singled in Pinto to put the Flying Tigers on the board. Following a Javier Osorio single, Jordan Yost crushed his second home run in as many games with a three-run shot. Chris Meyers went back-to-back with Yost with a solo shot to extend the lead to 5-0.
Bradenton countered with two runs in the fourth off reliever Paul Wilson. Richard Ramirez launched his team-leading 14th home run of the season with a solo shot. Brent Iredale and Bralyn Brazoban walked, followed by a Cristian Jauregui fielder’s choice. Kendrick Herrera walked in a run to cut the deficit to 5-2.
The Flying Tigers added three more runs in the fourth, with the first two charged to Mueth and the third charged to reliever Dariel Francia. Osorio walked, stole second, reached third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Meyers walked and Michael Oliveto drove him in on a two-run blast, extending the lead to 8-2.
Lakeland added one run in the fifth off Francia. Jude Warwick doubled, moved to third on a groundout and scored on an RBI fielder’s choice to push the lead to 9-2.
The Flying Tigers scored three more off Francia in the sixth. Yost led off with a double and scored on an RBI single from Oliveto. Nick Dumesnil reached on a single and both him and Oliveto scored on a two-run knock from Anibal Salas to increase the advantage to 12-2.
The Marauders added one run back in the eighth off reliever Bryce Alewine on a Brent Iredale solo shot to cap the scoring at 12-3.
Reliever Frenny Grant (1-0) got the win in his Single-A debut, going 1.2 shutout innings while punching out three. Mueth (0-3) took the loss, allowing five runs on six hits while walking two over 3.0 innings.
The Flying Tigers will look to take a 2-1 series lead on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. RHP Cale Wetwiska (1-0, 2.77) is set to square off against Bradenton RHP Levi Sterling (4-5, 4.30).
