FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

Miracle Take Game One 9-5

Published on September 4, 2015 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (September 3, 2015) - The Stone Crabs can take a page out of Fort Myers' book when it comes to closing out the regular season strong in preparation for the postseason. Last year, the Miracle won three out of four in Jupiter before marching to their first Florida State League Championship. At least for the first two innings in Thursday night's opener, the Stone Crabs got the hometown crowd into it thanks to a four run second inning. But the Miracle had an answer at each turn, and 15 hits carried them to a 9-5 win before 1,857 at Charlotte Sports Park.

The last time the 'Crabs got a look at lefthander Mat Batts was on August 16, when the lefthander delivered one his finest starts with just one run allowed across eight innings. In the second, Maxx Tissenbaum and Granden Goetzman opened things up with singles, and another base hit by Justin Williams brought in the game's first run. A walk to Pat Blair loaded the bases, and with one out, Braxton Lee added another run with a single into left. Next up was Hector Guevara, who singled back up the middle to drive in two more runs for a 4-0 lead.

Coming off the first eight inning start of his career, German Marquez watched the lead evaporate as Zack Granite led off the third with a triple into the right field corner. Chad Christensen followed with a soft infield single to short for his 38th run batted in and the first Miracle run. Engelb Vielma singled to bring the tying run to the plate, and a one out single by Mitch Garver loaded the bases for the middle of the order. Behind in the count one ball and two strikes, Bryan Haar struck with his first triple of the season to clear the bases and tie the game at four with a shot over Goetzman in center.

After retiring eight straight following Guevara's two run single, it was Guevara who led off the fifth with a hard single into left off Batts. Granite chased it down quickly, but hastily sailed the throw over second and down the right field line to put him at second with no outs. With one out, Casey Gillaspie grounded out to third, and on the ensuing throw back across the diamond to nail Guevara at third, Logan Wade's errant toss allowed Guevara to score on the second misfire of the inning.

Once again, Marquez (7-13) couldn't protect a lead as Jason Kanzler singled with one out in the sixth. A walk to Granite ended the righthander's night, and Hunter Wood's began with a game-tying double down the left field line off the bat of Christensen for his third hit. Vielma gave the Miracle their first lead with an RBI groundout to first, and Aderling Mejia made it 7-5 with a single into right.

In the seventh, Wood walked three of the first four batters he saw before coming out for Josh Kimborowicz with only one out. Granite got ahead in the count 2-0 before lining a fastball into left center to plate up two more runs and give Fort Myers a 9-5 lead they wouldn't relinquish. The win in game one made it eight straight over the Stone Crabs, who dropped to 68-65 overall, including a 23-40 mark in the second half.

The series continues in Fort Myers on Friday night at 7:05 PM when Greg Harris (1-3, 2.95 ERA) gets the start against lefthander Stephen Gonsalves (6-2, 2.70 ERA). You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 6:45 PM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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Florida State League Stories from September 4, 2015


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