BRADENTON – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels managed just two hits Thursday night, dropping their first game of the season 3-1 to the Bradenton Marauders at LECOM Park.

The Mighty Mussels (2-1) got runners into scoring position in each of the final three innings, but were only able to push across one run.

Marauders (1-2) starter Santiago Florez set the tone with four scoreless innings, allowing only one hit while fanning seven. Bradenton reliever Nick Garcia (1-0) went three innings while allowing only one run of relief before Steven Jennings earned a two-inning save.

The Marauders got the scoring going in the third on a solo home run from Eli Wilson. Two batters later, Fort Myers starter Sean Mooney (0-1) was pulled from the game due to injury. Mooney had been perfect aside from the homer, striking out five of the nine batters he faced.

Bradenton tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth on a wild pitch and an error to extend the lead to 3-0.

The Mussels bats showed signs of life in the seventh when Edouard Julien banged a triple off the center field fence. The next batter was Max Smith, who flied out to deep center to score Julien and cut the deficit to 3-1.

Even though Fort Myers couldn’t muster any more runs, they got outstanding relief work from Osiris German and Denny Bentley. German fanned five Marauders over 2.1 innings of hitless relief. Bentley struck out a pair of hitters in a scoreless eighth.

The Mussels and Marauders will meet again at 6:05 p.m. today. LHP Brent Headrick will make the start for Fort Myers, opposed by RHP Domingo Gonzalez of Bradenton.