Levi Stoudt recently got his first taste of facing Major League hitters. Last weekend, he started for the Seattle Mariners in a spring training game.

            The Marlborough native – nearly three years removed from major elbow 

surgery – earned the mound victory in a 7-6 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday, March 19. The pitcher worked into the third inning, allowing three earned runs on five hits and two walks.

            With less than two weeks remaining until the start of the regular season, the Perkiomen School product believes he has a chance to make the Mariners' Opening Day roster, which begins April 7 in Minnesota. Stoudt is competing with several other prospects to fill their fifth and final spot in the starting rotation.  "I have that as my goal," he said. "The only way it's going to happen is if I pitch my game."

            Wearing No. 72, the Perkiomen School graduate faced several of the Dodgers regulars, including Trea Turner, Cody Bellinger, Chris Taylor and Gavin Lux. He recorded seven outs.

            Stoudt, beginning his second season of professional competition, learned five days earlier that he would be making the start and was scheduled to work three innings. He said it was a shock to see his name in the weekly schedule distributed by the Mariners.  "I have been throwing really well the entire spring," said Stoudt, selected in the third round of the 2019 MLB First-Year Players Draft. "I'm in a real good place."

            Against the Dodgers, Stoudt allowed a run in the first inning on a sacrifice fly by Taylor. In the third, he surrendered an RBI hit by Barnes and Lux's sacrifice fly to cap a nine-pitch at-bat. The Lehigh University relied mostly on an improving slider to induce several defensive swings and soft contact.

            "I felt really good about the outing," said Stoudt, who threw just four Vulcan changeups. "My goal was not to overthrow. I have really good stuff, and I know to trust it."

            On Friday, the hard thrower will get another chance to face big league pitchers. Stoudt is scheduled to follow starter Marco Gonzalez and pitch three innings in relief against the Chicago White Sox.

            Stoudt, one of 19 prospects to accept a non-roster invitee to big league camp issued March 14, had never pitched above Double-A. Last season, he accumulated a 7-3 record in 15 starts for Class-A Everett and the Arkansas Travelers in the Double-A Central League. In 81 innings, he struck out 86 hitters.

            He underwent ligament replacement surgery in July of 2019, one month after the Mariners selected him in the draft. Stoudt made his professional debut May 5, 2021 with the Everett Aquasox in the High-A Western League.