Bradenton 6 - St. Lucie 3

The Bradenton Marauders broke Wednesday’s game open late and defeated the St. Lucie Mets 6-3 at McKechnie Field.

The Marauders jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings but the Mets climbed back into the game with a run in the sixth and another in the seventh to make it 4-3.

However, Jose Osuna drove in a run on a sac fly and Jordan Steranka followed with an RBI double off of Paul Sewald in the eighth to put the Marauders ahead by three.

Matt Benedict struck out Eudy Pina and Gilbert Gomez back-to-back to finish the game in the ninth.

Steranka went 2 for 4 and drove in three runs. Both hits were doubles.

John Kuchno earned his first victory since he beat the Mets back on April 27. Kuchno gave up three runs, two earned, and six hits over 6 2/3 innings.

Kevin McGowan took a tough loss for the Mets. He gave up four runs in six inning but only one run was earned.

The Mets committed three errors for the second straight game. They also lost to the Marauders on Tuesday 11-5.

At the plate, the Mets had few chances and they were doomed by hitting into three double plays. The first came off the bat of L.J. Mazzilli in the first, but it did plate a run to give the Mets a 1-0 lead.

The Marauders tied the game in the bottom of the first when Cam Maron tried to throw out Max Moroff on a steal attempt. Maron’s throw sailed into center field and Adam Frazier trotted home from third on the error.

Bradenton loaded the bases against McGowan in the third, partly because of McGowan’s throwing error to first. Josh Bell followed with an infield single to make it 2-1. Then with two outs, Steranka doubled to drive in two and make it 4-1.

Jared King picked up his first hit for the Mets with an RBI double in the sixth that made it 4-2.

In the seventh, Jeff McNeil doubled and scored on Eric Wood’s throwing error with two outs to cut the deficit to 4-3. Gomez advanced to third on the play, but he was stranded 90 feet away from tying the game when Raul Fortunato dropped to his knees to make a catch in center off the bat of Mazzilli to end the inning.

Maron and McNeil had two hits apiece for the Mets.

Benedict pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to pick up the save. - team press release