BRADENTON (SNN-TV) – Ernny Ordonez slugged two home runs, including a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth, to help lift the Marauders to a 9-6 win over the Tampa Tarpons on Thursday night at LECOM Park.
The two-homer game was Ordonez’s first career multi-homer game. He became the fourth Marauder to hit multiple home runs in a game this season, joining Jase Bowen, Jack Herman, and Hudson Head.
Left-hander Tyler Samaniego (1-0) earned the win in relief in his professional debut, pitching scoreless seventh and eighth innings for the Marauders while working around leadoff baserunners in both innings.
The Marauders (64-38) have now won four straight games, and five of their last six. Bradenton now sits just three games behind the Tarpons (67-35) for the West Division lead.
Tampa built a 3-0 lead off Marauders starter Adrian Florencio, as Anthony Garcia homered to right-center to open the second inning, then added an RBI-double in the third shortly after a Trey Sweeney solo blast. But Ordonez opened the bottom of the third with a solo home run that just cleared the left-field wall, bringing Bradenton within two runs, 3-1.
In the fourth, the Marauders rallied ahead. Alexander Mojica doubled off the right-field wall, took third base on a Maikol Escotto groundout, then scored on a Juan Carela wild pitch to narrow Bradenton’s deficit to one run, 3-2. Ordonez followed with an infield single and took second base on a wild pitch before scoring the tying run on an RBI-single by Jackson Glenn, who took second base on a bobble by Jasson Dominguez in center field. Endy Rodriguez broke the tie with a two-run homer to right field, and a Dariel Lopez infield-single—the Marauders’ fourth straight hit—chased Carela from the game.
The Tarpons, however, rallied back ahead, 6-5, in the sixth inning. After pitching a scoreless fifth in relief of Florencio, Marauders right-hander Christian Charle issued a leadoff walk in the sixth and surrendered a game-tying two run homer to Benjamin Cowles. Evan Alexander later singled and scored the go-ahead run on a Sweeney triple to right field that narrowly eluded the reach of Hudson Head.
Bradenton pushed back in the bottom of the eighth. Head and Mojica both reached on errors, and Ordonez took full advantage, giving the Marauders an 8-6 lead with a three-run homer into the left-field bleachers. Glenn followed the homer by drawing a walk, reaching third on an errant pickoff throw by Clay Aguilar (0-2), and scoring on a passed ball.
Oliver Mateo pitched a scoreless ninth for the save. The right-hander allowed Antonio Gomez to reach first base on a third-strike wild pitch with one out, but recovered to strike out the next two batters to end the game.
Rodriguez’s two-run homer extended his hitting streak to nine straight games. Glenn, who went 1-for-3 with two walks, has reached base safely in each of his 14 games for Bradenton while collecting a hit in 13 of the 14 games.
The series continues Friday with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. at LECOM Park, consisting of two seven-inning games.
