FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Miracle Rally Late, Defeat Bradenton 6-5

Published on May 15, 2010 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


Trailing 5-0, and lacking all signs of life from their offense, the Miracle bats woke up in the seventh inning against Bradenton as they exploded for six runs - escaping with a 6-5 victory. Fort Myers sent 10 batters to the plate in the decisive inning as Jair Fernandez capped off the scoring outburst with a two-out 2-RBI double to the left-field wall. The Miracle (16-19) split a two-game series with Bradenton (20-15), after losing a 1-0 heartbreaker on Friday.

After going scoreless for 18 consecutive innings dating back to the seventh against the Tampa Yankees two games ago, the Miracle broke the streak with a full team effort. All nine batters in the Miracle order had productive at-bats to put together the six runs. Ramon Santana led off the inning with a line-drive that went off the foot of Bradenton reliever Mike Colla - picking up a single. Brandon Roberts followed with an opposite-field hit to put two on for Nick Romero, who drew a walk to load the bases. Colla was then removed from the game as the Marauders went to right-hander Tom Boleska.

With Boleska on the mound, Paul Kelly delivered the first RBI - a single scoring Santana. Chris Herrmann then hit a sacrifice-fly with the bases loaded to bring Roberts in, making it 5-2. Nate Hanson followed with a single to reload the bases for Evan Bigley, who was hit in the helmet by Boleska to score the third run. With the bases still loaded, Chris Cates picked up a second sacrifice-fly RBI to score Kelly - bringing the Miracle within a run. Then, with runners at first and second and two outs, Fernandez scorched a double in the left-field alley to score the final two runs.

Boleska (0-1) was charged with the loss, allowing the final three earned runs on four hits.

Up 6-5 in the eighth, the Miracle went to 20-year-old reliever Andrei Lobanov who recorded two quick outs. Manager Jake Mauer then went to his closer - Billy Bullock - to nail down the rest of the game. After a two-out single to Tony Sanchez in the eighth, Bullock induced a ground out to head into the ninth. Bullock also allowed a single to lead off the ninth, but recovered to strike out two of the next three batters, including a strikeout against Greg Picart to end the night. Bullock picked up his eighth save of the year, and has now converted six consecutive saves dating back to April 28th.

The Marauders scored an early run in the second against Miracle starter Blake Martin as he would pitch three innings. Shooter Hunt allowed the final four runs without allowing a hit, as he struggled with his control walking four batters and throwing three wild-pitches. Steve Blevins (1-0) entered in the sixth inning as Hunt loaded the bases with no outs, and Blevins yielded just one run on a sacrifice-fly to Quincy Latimore. He would then pitch a scoreless seventh to earn his first victory of the season.

Fort Myers will now welcome the Clearwater Threshers for a four-game series, beginning Sunday afternoon. First pitch at Hammond Stadium is set for 4:05 p.m.

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Florida State League Stories from May 15, 2010


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