FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Long Night Ends With Dramatic Homer as Miracle Split DH

Published on August 19, 2005 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


FORT MYERS, FL - Everything that could go wrong for the Fort Myers Miracle did go wrong, but all was forgotten, when after 19 innings and nearly six hours of baseball, Brock Peterson became the hero with a walk off homer in game two of the double header as the Miracle defeated the Lakeland Tigers 6-3 in 11 innings at Hammond Stadium. The Miracle lost game one 3-2 in eight innings.

With the Miracle trailing by a run in the bottom of the 11th inning, Angelo Fermin led off with a walk. Ron Perodin sacrificed him to second and Matt Tolbert singled to center to drive in Fermin and tie the game at three. Tolbert advanced to second when the ball got away from the catcher on the throw home. The Tigers intentionally walked Justin Arneson and Trent Oeltjen grounded out to second that moved the runners up a base. Brock Peterson then launched his second homer of the night cap, a three run blast over the left field wall, and his 12th homer of the season.

The Miracle looked like they would win it without using extra innings. With the game scoreless in the sixth Peterson hit a solo shot over the left field wall. Scott Whitrock singled to center and went to third on Jose Leger's single to right. Allen de San Miguel's sac fly scored Whitrock to give the Miracle a 2-0 lead.

The Miracle took the lead into the seventh, but that's when disaster struck. Tristan Crawford retired the first two hitters and the Miracle were just one out from victory. Kody Kirkland hit a ground ball to second base, but Luke Hughes had trouble fielding it and Kirkland reached on the error. The Tigers went to their bench for their leading home run hitter, Garth McKinney, who had homered in game one. McKinney hit a moon shot just inside the foul pole and barely over the 330 sign in left field for a two run homer, his 22nd of the season.

The Tigers took the lead in the 11th on a solo homer by Kelly Hunt, his 16th of the year. The Miracle used five pitchers in game two and started with Chris Schutt, a reliever.

In game one, the Miracle weren't as fortunate. With the game scoreless in the fifth, Juan Gonzalez singled to center for the Tigers. With two outs McKinney hit an opposite field homer off of Scott Tyler to put the Tigers up 2-0.

The Miracle rallied to tie it in the sixth. Ron Perodin led off with an infield single. Tolbert followed with an RBI double which scored Perodin to make it 2-1. Jake Mauer sacrificed Tolbert to third. Oeltjen struck out, but Kyle Geiger singled to center to tie the game at two.

Everything fell apart in the eighth. Danilo Sanchez led off the eighth with a single to left. With one out Gilberto Mejia grounded out to first which moved pinch runner Pedro Cotto to second. With the left-hand hitting Vincent Blue coming to the plate the Miracle countered with lefty Jay Sawatski. He got Blue to hit a grounder to second. Fermin's throw to first was dropped by Mark Zamojc and that allowed Cotto to score all the way from second.

The Miracle had a chance to tie in the bottom of the inning. Perodin led off with a single to center and moved to second on Tolbert's sac bunt. Perodin then advanced to third on a wild pitch. With the infield in, Mauer hit a grounder to second which held Perodin at third as Mauer was retired. Oeltjen then hit a grounder to first and Hunt's throw to pitcher Chris Homer covering was a bang-bang play, but Oeltjen was called out to end the game.

Tyler was impressive, but was charged with the loss. He went 7.2 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on four hits while walking two and striking out seven.

The split of the double-header combined with the Dunedin Blue Jays victory means the Miracle are now 1.5 games out of first. The same two teams meet Saturday night at Hammond Stadium. The Miracle send RHP Adam Harben (8-5, 2.55) to the hill against Tiger RHP Nate Bumstead (11-4, 2.46).

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Florida State League Stories from August 19, 2005


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