FSL Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Five-Run Tenth Lifts Mussels Past Marauders 11-7 in Extra-Inning Thriller

Published on July 21, 2023 under Florida State League (FSL)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


BRADENTON, Fla. - After losing the lead with two outs in the bottom of the ninth Thursday, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels answered back with a five-run tenth that catapulted them to an 11-7 extra-inning victory over the Bradenton Marauders at LECOM Park.

Knotted at 6-6 in the top of the tenth, Dylan Neuse was placed on second as the automatic runner for Fort Myers (43-44, 9-12). With two strikes, Kyle Schmidt looped a soft liner to left center that brought home Neuse to give Fort Myers a 7-6 lead. After Gregory Duran walked, Rafael Cruz poked a grounder through a wide-open right side of the infield that scored Schmidt to extend the lead to two runs. The next hitter was Yohander Martinez who lifted a sacrifice fly to center to score Duran from third and make it 9-6. After a ground out and a walk, Carson McCusker punched a grounder to right that scored Cruz and plated Fort Myers' tenth run of the night. The Mussels tacked on one more when Rubel Cespedes seared a hard grounder to right that brought home Olivar and made it 11-6.

While the Marauders (50-36, 15-6) were able to bring home their automatic runner in the bottom of the tenth, reliever Jackson Hicks (3-1) still recorded the game's final three outs to secure the victory.

With the win, the Mussels snapped their four-game losing streak and prevented the Marauders from winning their seventh in a row. Moreover, Fort Myers moved to 5-6 in extra-inning contests and set a new season high with 17 hits.

Leading off the ballgame in the top of the first, Olivar blasted a homer to left center that put the Mussels on the board 1-0. The ball left Olivar's bat at 103 miles per hour, traveled a projected distance of 419 feet, and gave him his seventh round tripper of the season.

In the top of the second, Duran launched a ground-rule double to left with one out. The next hitter was Cruz, who lifted a two-run dinger to left center that extended the Mussels' lead to 3-0.

With the same score in the top of the fourth, Duran joined the home-run barrage, belting an opposite-field home run to left that put the Mussels up 4-0.

Mussels' starter Jose Olivares (2-3) worked a strong start as well, tossing 4.2 shutout innings while fanning a career-high eight batters.

After Bradenton pushed across a run in the bottom of the seventh, Fort Myers rallied in the top of the eighth. Leading off the inning, Schmidt singled and Duran doubled to place runners at second and third for Cruz, who poked a soft liner to right that scored two and bolstered the Mussels' lead to 6-1.

In the bottom half of the same frame, the Marauders began to battle back after a single and two walks loaded the bases for Deivis Nadal. With one out in the frame, he corked a grand slam to right that cut the Bradenton deficit to 6-5.

With the Mussels still leading by one with two outs and two strikes in the bottom of the ninth, Bradenton's Josiah Sightler sent a deep drive over the wall in right to miraculously tie the game at 6-6 before Fort Myers' offensive outburst in the tenth.

Looking to even the series tomorrow, Fort Myers will hand Jarret Whorff (2-0, 1.47) the ball to counter Dominic Perachi (3-0, 4.60) of the Marauders with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m. The Mighty Mussels Broadcast Network will not be covering the rest of the series, but the remaining three games will be streamed on the Mauraders Baseball Network.

Check out the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Statistics

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Florida State League Stories from July 21, 2023


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