On the day that the Bradenton Marauders got their championship rings from 2021, I got the win I’ve been craving without even realizing it. The next Delmarva Shorebirds team will consist of lots of international players from the rookie leagues. Today they took on and beat Bradenton 4-1 behind great pitching and no defensive or baserunning mistakes.
The opener was righty Moises Chace and he was on today. Starting off counts to his advantage he finished them off with strikeouts and limited the clean contact. Leadoff hitter Tsung-Che Cheng got him for a hit but he’s a future .350 hitter so he’ll do that from time to time. Raul Rangel followed and his stuff took a few hitters to warm up but was there. Next on the bump was a pitcher I hadn’t seen before, Carson Carter. I posted video of his delivery and release point, they look to be quite tough on righties. He was clean and gave way to Kelvin LaRoche who brought his A game too. Ricky Ramirez came on to compete the righty redemption and gave up a triple to Cheng and a passed ball allowing the run to score.
Ricky Ramirez closes out the win! Here’s a k of Campaña…. pic.twitter.com/KqbQvuXaCq
— Eric_Birdland (@Eric_Birdland) March 29, 2022
The defense was very sharp, like near perfect which is a sign of growth for this group. I saw a couple good scoops at 1st from Josue Cruz, some gorgeous double play turns at the bag from Roberto Martinez and great routes and pacing from Isaac Bellony. Bellony had two hits early, both for RBI so we can call him the player of the game. Luis Valdez, a new player to me drove one deep to the left field fence oppo but the wind prevented it from leaving which was good because if it went over that’s where my car was parked. OF Mishael Deson used his legs and his bat today to help his team get on the board in a close and low scoring contest. Deson had a hit, and RBI and a steal in the game.
Catcher Creed Willems had a couple long ABs that didn’t end up in his favor but substitute Brayan Hernandez made sure the catchers were spoken for with a booming double to deep center that looked gone off the bat.
On the Pirates side, corner prospect and home run hitter Alexander Mojica started a couple double plays showing a clean pivot towards 2nd playing 3rd base today. Birthday boy Sergio Campaña got to wear the kind of sombrero he probably doesn’t like as he struck out seemingly every inning. Jacob Gonzalez playing 1st today was struck in the head by a Chace pitch early and was able to stay in. Trainer Casey Lee rushed out but Gonzo let him know they were all good.
On an adjacent field closed to the public the Aberdeen group took care of business too. I asked a player walking past if they had won the game and he said it felt like yes. We’ll call that a road trip sweep which feels good whether it counts or not. Tomorrow the squads are split one more time against Pittsburgh so maybe we’ll be able to see some more action.
