FSL1 Fort Myers Mighty Mussels

Miracle Win First at Home in 10th Inning Walkoff

Published on April 19, 2010 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels News Release


After an excellent pitching duel between the Fort Myers Miracle and the Charlotte Stone Crabs Monday night at Hammond Stadium, the Miracle were able to prevail in the bottom of the 10th on a walk-off double by Drew Thompson - winning 3-2. With a 1-0 count and runners on first and second, Thompson launched a fastball from Josh Satow all the way to right field wall, scoring Chris Cates from second. Fort Myers (3-7) snapped a three-game losing streak with the win, and picked up their first home victory in three tries at Hammond Stadium.

The Miracle have now picked up all three of their early season wins against the Stone Crabs (5-4), after taking 2-of-3 games in a mid-week series last week at Charlotte Sports Park.

Thompson finished the night 2-for-5 and has extended his team-leading hitting streak to seven games. The second-basemen from Jupiter, Florida, has now hit safely in 8 of the 9 games that he has played this season.

Fort Myers had outstanding efforts from their entire pitching staff, with Blake Martin notching his first victory - holding the Stone Crabs scoreless in the ninth and tenth innings. The Boaz, Alabama, native struck out three batters in his sharpest performance of the year, which was part of an 11 strikeout effort by the Miracle staff. In the tenth, he got great defense from his catcher, Dan Rohlfing to get out of a big jam. Isaias Velasquez reached base with a two out infield-hit in the top of the tenth, and then stole second base to get into scoring position. He tried to go for another steal to third but Rohlfing threw a perfect strike over to Solarte covering the bag for the inning ending third out.

Rohlfing also had a big night at the plate, driving in the game's two first runs on a double in the second inning against Charlotte starter Chris Andujar. Andujar (0-1) then retired 10 consecutive batters before eventually exiting the game before the seventh.

Kyle Gibson (1-1) made his third start of the season for the Miracle, picking up the no-decision. Gibson posted his longest outing of the year, lasting seven innings, only allowing two earned runs on seven hits and striking out five. After the Miracle jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Rohlfing's double in the second, Gibson yielded the only Charlotte runs of the night in the third.

After Gibson's departure, Matt Williams struck out the side in the eighth, before handing the game off to Martin in the ninth. WIlliams, and Australian native, now has seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings of relief.

The two team's will square off the next two nights, starting Tuesday with Miracle left-hander Michael Tarsi (1-1, 3.60 ERA) making his third start of the year against lefty Matt Moore for the Stone Crabs. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. from Hammond Stadium.

Tonight also marked the first live radio broadcast of the year in Southwest Florida for the Miracle, with the debut of the "Monday Night Game of the Week" on 770 ESPN Radio. Every remaining Monday night game, home and away, can be heard on 770 AM ESPN Radio with the "Voice of the Miracle", Alex Margulies, carrying the action. You can also listen to every single game throughout the year as well on www.miraclebaseball.com.

Check out the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Florida State League Stories from April 19, 2010


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central