The Lakeland Flying Tigers (49-57, 18-23) dropped the series opener to the Bradenton Marauders (47-60, 16-26) with a 6-3 defeat on Tuesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Bradenton scored one run in the first inning off starter Caleb Leys. Chris Rembert tallied a leadoff double on the first pitch of the game and moved to third on a Nick Cimillo single. Eddie King Jr. drove in Rembert on an RBI fielder’s choice, putting the Marauders ahead, 1-0.
Bradenton doubled its lead with one run in the third off Leys. Canon Reeder led off the inning with a single, stole second and scored on an RBI single from Rembert, his first career professional RBI, doubling the lead to 2-0.
The Flying Tigers cut the lead in half in the bottom of the third off starter Ronny Gallo. Jordan Yost smashed his second career professional home run, a solo shot, to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Marauders extended the lead with two runs in the fifth off reliever Grayson Grinsell. Richard Ramirez and Brent Iredale walked to lead off the inning and Bralyn Brazoban scored Ramirez on an RBI single and Ireland scored as Brazoban was thrown out at second, pushing the lead to 4-1.
Bradenton scored two more runs in the eighth off reliever Xiomer Guacache. Ramirez doubled and Iredale reached on a hit by pitch. Both runners scored on a two-run triple from Cristian Jauregui, extending the lead to 6-1.
Lakeland countered with two runs in the bottom of the eight off reliever David Matoma. Yost tripped and Hunter Dobbins walked. Chris Meyers laced an RBI double to score Yost and Dobbins scored on a wild pitch, moving the deficit to 6-3.
Neither team scored in the ninth inning as the Marauders secured a 6-3 win in the opening game of the series.
Dylan Mathiesen (1-0) earned the win, going 2.0 hitless innings while striking out one. Leys (0-5) took the loss, allowing two runs on five hits while punching out two. Victor Trejo (1) earned the save, allowing one hit over 1.0 innings while striking out two.
The Flying Tigers look to even the series at 1-1 as Detroit Tigers 2026 first-round pick Cameron Flukey (0-0, --) makes his organizational debut as he faces off against Bradenton RHP Zander Mueth (0-2, 8.61).
