A day removed from allowing a season-high 11 runs, the Palm Beach Cardinals looked for revenge as they faced the Bradenton Marauders once again at Roger Dean Stadium.
Austin Gomber got the start on the mound for the Cardinals, and Yeudy Garcia for Bradenton.
Gomber had yet another successful start to the season, pitching six and two-thirds innings of scoreless baseball, extending his scoreless streak to 14 2/3 innings on the season. He gave up six hits on the night, striking out five and walking none. Although, the start of the game was a little sloppy for the young pitcher. During the first at-bat of the game, Kevin Newman singled and a fielding error by Gomber two batters later allowed Connor Joe to reach safely.
The Marauders, however, were unable to capitalize on the early situation, and could not find any momentum for the remainder of the game.
What ensued was a pitcher’s duel between Gomber and Garcia. The duel continued to go back and forth until the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Cardinal offense broke the scoring, as well as the game, open. Oscar Mercado started things off by striking out, but due to a wild pitch, still reached first base. Following the at-bat, Mercado stole second base for the second time of the game. However, the very next pitch saw Mercado caught stealing at third base. Danny Diekroeger reached on a walk, and advanced to second following a Casey Grayson single. Michael Pritchard was then hit by a pitch by Sam Street. Following the at-bat, catcher Brian O’Keefe was walked on four straight pitches, to bring up Nick Thompson.
Thompson doubled in two runs with an already 1-0 lead to give Palm Beach the 3-0 lead, and eventually, the win.
Despite reaching base twice, Diekroeger’s team-leading 11-game hitting streak came to an end.
As for Gomber, he improved to 2-1 on the season with the victory.
“O’Keefe and I were on the same page all night even though my stuff wasn’t really there. I felt like being on the same page allowed me to work in the rhythm I like to work throughout the game,” Gomber said of the pitching performances of both him and his catcher.
The Cardinals will host Bradenton in the final game of the home stand on Thursday night, with Blake McKnight (0-0) starting for the Cardinals, and Austin Coley (0-2) for Bradenton. First pitch at 6:30.
