St. Lucie 10 - Bradenton 7

The St. Lucie Mets rallied for five runs after making two outs in the eighth to come back and beat the Bradenton Marauders 10-7 at McKechnie Field on Friday.

Cole Frenzel’s RBI singe with two down in the eighth off of Ryan Hafner brought home Phil Evans to tie the game 7-7. Evans previously doubled to score Gavin Cecchini to start the rally.

Jeff McNeil followed Frenzel with a line drive up the middle the just went off the tip of Max Moroff’s glove. The second baseman laid out for the ball but couldn’t make the catch and it trickled into center. Frenzel scored to put the Mets up 8-7.

Jared King and Evans provided two insurance runs in the ninth with an RBI single and sac fly, respectively.

Paul Sewald recorded his second six-out save in the last four days to close out the victory.

Robby Coles gave up a run in the seventh but earned the win.

Hafner allowed four runs in two innings of work and suffered the loss.

The two teams traded blows early. The Mets scored three runs in the fourth, including an RBI double for King and a single by Frenzel that gave the Mets a 4-2 lead.

However, Mets started Domingo Tapia surrendered a two-out grand slam to Jose Osuna in the bottom of the fourth that put the Marauders up 6-4.

The Mets battled back to get within a run in the seventh when Eudy Pina scored on a wild pitch. Coles gave the run back up in the bottom of the inning on an RBI ground out by Moroff.

But Bradenton’s bullpen couldn’t shut down the Mets and hold a 7-5 in the last two innings. The Mets belted out six of their 14 hits in the eighth and ninth.

Everyone in the lineup for the Mets had a hit. Frenzel, King, McNeil, Cam Maron and L.J. Mazzilli all had two hits. Mazzilli hit his fourth homer of the season, a solo shot in the first, and doubled.

Tapia gave up seven hits and six runs in six innings. The only earned runs he allowed were on the grand slam. He also walked five and hit a batter.

With the win the Mets gained a game on first place Bradenton. They are now 4.5 games back of the Marauders and have two more games against the Marauders on Saturday and Sunday.team press release