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Class-A: Bradenton Pounds St. Lucie 11-6 To Open FSL Playoffs

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Photo by Gabe Rodriguez/LOD

The Bradenton Marauders and the St. Lucie Mets began the minor league postseason on Tuesday at Tradition Field with a hitting barrage.  Both teams came out swinging the bats, but the Marauders with six in the first and five in the seventh pulled away for an 11-6 Game 1 victory.

In the first with the Mets Chris Flexen (10-9, 3.56 ERA) on the mound, Bradenton went to work with five straight singles to open the game. After a strikeout for the first out, Jordan Luplow was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Christian Kelley hit a single that scored three runs also aided by a throwing error from center fielder Patrick Biondi. In all the Marauders took a quick 6-0 lead.

After four scoreless innings from both sides, the Mets finally got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the fifth highlighted by a two-run single from Biondi and an RBI double off the bat of David Thompson.

But the Pittsburgh Pirates Class A affiliate would pull away for good with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. After a Mets pitching change, Pablo Reyes greeted Alex Palsha with a line drive double to left field. Three straight singles score two runs before Luplow unloads a three run shot to left field to extend the lead to 11-3.

St. Lucie manages a comeback with a run in the bottom of the frame on Thompson’s second RBI double, and two in the bottom of the ninth on a bases loaded walk from Tomas Nido and a ground out off the bat of John Mora, but that is how close the Mets would get as the Marauders take Game 1 and lead the best of three, 1-0.

Game Notes

Bradenton: RISP 9 for 16, LOB 6
St. Lucie: RISP 3 for 13, LOB 10

Top Performers

Bradenton
Pablo Reyes – 4 for 5, 2 R, Double
Kevin Kramer – 3 for 5, 2 R
Jerrick Suiter – 2 for 5, 2 R, 2 RBI
Chase Simpson – 3 for 4, 2 R, 3 RBI
Jordan Luplow – 1 for 4, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI
Mitch Keller (W, 1-0) – 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 8 K

St. Lucie
Patrick Biondi – 2 for 4, 3 R, RBI
David Thompson – 3 for 5, R, 2 Doubles, 2 RBI
Domingo Tapia – 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
Tyler Bashlor – 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K

David Conde

David Conde

Co-Founder/Executive Editor at Legends On Deck®
David is the Co-Founder and Executive Editor of Legends On Deck®. He was a Senior Editor for MetsMerizedOnline, MetsMinors.net and Contributor for Hardballchat.com. David along with John Ginder created Legends on Deck to be the site where passionate fans of the game have a place to read about their favorite baseball teams. The site was also created for people who had a talent to write or even take photographs and have the platform to share. The passion of following the Minor Leagues can be seen all over the site as the players journey's are what what drives the LOD team to share their content. David's passion is making available a site that people can have fun sharing and reading.

You can also reach out to David at daconde@legendsondeck.com
David Conde

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