FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Miracle fall, 9-7

Published on August 20, 2008 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


LAKELAND, F.L. (August 20, 2008) - With Tropical Storm Fay continuing to soak a good portion of the Florida State League, for the first time in 72 hours, the Fort Myers Miracle and Lakeland Flying Tigers were able to sneak a ball game in. As expected, both sides showed a little rust throughout the night as the Flying Tigers picked up a 9-7 win over the Miracle on Wednesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Wilson Ramos and Steve Singleton got the Miracle on the board early for a brief 2-0 lead. Ramos singled in Juan Portes in the first while Singleton lifted off with a solo-shot in the third. Lakeland bounced right back with three of their four triples on the night in a five-run third.

Justin Justice struck first with a two-run triple to center, before Louis Ott's RBI-single gave the Flying Tigers a 3-2 lead. After a couple of strikeouts by starter Joe Testa, Brennan Boesch and Jeramy Laster contributed with back-to-back RBI-triples for a 5-2 Lakeland lead.

A half-inning later, the Miracle would put a big inning together themselves with a four-spot in the fourth to regain a one-run advantage. Three walks in the inning helped the Miracle out early as a groundball to second by Garrett Olson looked to be a rally killing double play. Instead, Ott mishandled the hotshot allowing everyone to reach safely and Whit Robbins to score from third. A two-run double later by Eli Tintor and groundout by Yancarlos Ortiz gave the lead right back to the Miracle at 6-5.

From there, Lakeland would tack on four of the last five runs en route to the win. Cale Iorg came through with a RBI-single in the fifth, while Michael Bertram's single and Boesch's fielder's choice in the sixth put the Flying Tigers back on top by two. Jeff Kunkel took advantage of the second Miracle error of the night capitalizing with his RBI-double in the seventh moving the advantage to three.

The Miracle would make things interesting in the ninth as Tintor began the frame with a triple to right-center, later scoring on Ortiz's single to left. With the tying-run at the plate and nobody out, Lakeland closer Ryan Perry then retired the side with a pair of strikeouts and fly ball to center to earn the save. Perry's fastball in the ninth inning topped out at 102mph on the stadium radar gun.

Even with more rain expected to douse the Lakeland area on Thursday, thanks to Tropical Storm Fay, the Miracle and Flying Tigers will try to engage in game two of the series at 7:00 p.m. RHP Alex Burnett (7-5, 4.03) will get the ball for the Miracle against Lakeland's RHP Jonah Nickerson (11-3, 3.66). Fans can tune in to the game on WMYR AM-1410 and WCNZ AM-1660 beginning at 6:45 p.m.

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Florida State League Stories from August 20, 2008


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