FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Miracle Split Double Header as Offense Awakens in Final Game

Published on June 14, 2009 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


DAYTONA BEACH -- The Miracle salvaged the final game of a four-game set with Daytona as a season-worst hitting slump seemed to end with eleven hits in game two's victory.

Fort Myers was doomed by a nightmarish first inning in the opener of the twinbill. Mike McCardell gave up eight runs -- but only one earned -- as the Miracle recorded four errors in the inning. The only run was a Nick Romero solo shot as his teammates scraped together just three hits.

McCardell's (7-4) final line was one-third of an inning, four hits, eight runs, one earned run, three walks. The bullpen combined to throw five and two-thirds of scoreless relief. Santos Arias went three and two-thirds, allowing just one hit, and striking out four. Blair Erickson had a perfect inning with a strikeout and Henry Arias also threw a perfect frame of his own.

Fortunes reversed for Fort Myers (39-23) in the nightcap. The Miracle took its first lead all series in the first inning and went on to score four in the first three innings, including the first homer of the year from Jair Fernandez. Despite the offense going cold over the last week, the Miracle batters have somehow gone on a streak of eight straight games with a home run after starting it dead-last in the league in team homers.

Steve Hirschfeld (2-1) played the role of stopper beautifully. The Utah native limited the Cubs to just two hits in five scoreless innings while walking three and fanning four. Kyle Waldrop surrendered an unearned run in the sixth and Spencer Steedley walked one, struck out one, and gave up a hit to record his second save.

The Miracle were helped by a baserunning blunder by pinch hitter Starlin Castro in the seventh. As the leadoff batter he launched a deep fly ball to deep right for an easy double trailing by three runs. But the All-Star shortstop tried to stretch it into a triple and was thrown out at third base.

An amusing moment took place in the early innings of game two. Miracle first base coach Jim Dwyer needed help from trainer Larry Bennese when a brightly colored green bird perched on his shoulder and refused to budge. As Dwyer laughed, Bennese managed to shoo the bird away, but it flew straight to the Daytona dugout and perched on one of the Cubs players. Members of the Cubs took turns letting the feathered friend rest on their fingers or shoulders until the end of the inning when someone finally took it out of the field of play and released it into the wild.

The Miracle start a four-game series at Dunedin at 7:00 p.m. on Monday.

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Florida State League Stories from June 14, 2009


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