Bradenton Delivers Late-Inning Comeback To Defeat Manatees In Extra-Innings 4-3

By  //  June 29, 2015

Victor-Roache-Brevard-Manatees-580-2
Trailing by two runs at the start of the eighth inning, the Bradenton Marauders’ (3-1, 35-39 overall) potent offense came to life, rallying to tie the game and then earned the victory in the bottom of the 11th on Harold Ramirez’s walk-off single to give the Marauders a 4-3 win over the Brevard County Manatees (1-2, 30-42 overall) on Sunday afternoon at McKechnie Field. (BC Manatees Image)

BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA –  Trailing by two runs at the start of the eighth inning, the Bradenton Marauders’ (3-1, 35-39 overall) potent offense came to life, rallying to tie the game and then earned the victory in the bottom of the 11th on Harold Ramirez’s walk-off single to give the Marauders a 4-3 win over the Brevard County Manatees (1-2, 30-42 overall) on Sunday afternoon at McKechnie Field.

Bradenton opened the account when Jin-De Jhang launched a solo home run to center field, his first homer of the season. The run was also the first surrendered by Manatees’ starting pitcher Jorge Ortega since June 9th.

Later in the inning, Ortega would walk JaCoby Jones to load the bases. The free pass was the first issued by Ortega in 40 innings, the last coming during his start against Bradenton on May 12th.

Jorge Ortega
Jorge Ortega

He would escape further damage, however, by coaxing a flyout from Austin Meadows.

The one-run lead would hold up until a Manatee rally the top of the fifth inning. The rally would be kicked off by a Jose Pena double to center, who then advanced on a wild pitch by Marauders starting pitcher Jayson Aquino. Pena came home shortly afterward on a double to left by Rafael Neda, who then moved to third on a Steven Halcomb groundout.

Chris McFarland
Chris McFarland

Following an Omar Garcia groundout, Chris McFarland‘s infield single plated Neda to give the ‘Tees the lead.

Brevard County added on in their following turn at-bat in the sixth, which began with Clint Coulter reached on Wyatt Mathisen’s fielding error. Coulter promptly stole second base and then came around to score on a two-out single to right by Pena.

It appeared as if the Manatees would make the 3-1 lead stand up but the Marauders gave themselves a lifeline with one out in the eighth when Justin Maffei drew a walk from Manatees reliever Stephen Peterson.

Following a Meadows strikeout, Barrett Barnes crushed his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast to center to bring Bradenton level.

The Manatees had the go-ahead run in scoring positon in both the 10th and 11th innings but could not cash in and that would prove costly as Bradenton would seek to end the game in the bottom of the 11th against Brevard County reliever Mark Williams.

Barnes led off the inning with a single and then advanced to second on a passed ball. He then moved up another 90 feet on a successful sacrifice by Erich Weiss and when Ramirez laced a base hit to right, Barnes sprinted home with the winning run.

The loss was just the Manatees’ fourth this season in which they had the lead after the seventh inning.

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In his first start since being the starting pitcher for the North Division in the Florida State League All-Star Game eight days ago, Ortega gave up just the one run on seven hits, while striking out and walking one batter each on 77 pitches in five innings.

In addition to his RBI, McFarland recorded his second straight three-hit game. Pena’s double gave him three straight games with a hit.

The Manatees will look to earn their first victory in the series on Monday night as RHP Eric Marzec (1-5, 4.11 ERA) will be on the mound against RHP Luis Heredia (1-2, 5.58 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 P.M.