Shuffield Moonshot Wins It for Fort Myers in 10-Inning Thriller
Published on April 22, 2023 under Southern League (SL) News Release
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Dalton Shuffield sent a crowd of over 2,500 Mussels fans at Hammond Stadium into a frenzy, after hitting a two-run walk-off homer to complete a 9-7 victory over the Hammerheads Saturday.
In the bottom of the tenth inning with the game tied at seven, Shuffield sent a skyscraping blast to the top of the berm in left field to complete the comeback and hand the Mussels (8-6) their first walk-off victory of the season.
In a scoreless game in the bottom of the third, Jupiter (7-7) starting pitcher Jacob Miller walked three straight Fort Myers hitters to begin the frame. With the bases loaded, Jorel Ortega scorched a hard line drive down the left-field line to give the Mussels a two-run lead.
While Dillon Tatum was nabbed at the plate trying to bring across a third run, Ortega was able to advance to third on the play. Two batters later, Andrew Cossetti drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center to extend the lead to 3-0. The three runs scored were the first Miller allowed all season after recording 13 scoreless frames to open the year.
In the top of the fourth with one out, Jupiter put runners at the corners after back-to-back singles off Mussels starter Zebby Matthews (2-0). Javier Sanoja put his club on the scoreboard for the first time with a sacrifice fly to center, to cut the Hammerheads' deficit to 3-1. The run broke a stretch of 13.1 scoreless innings to begin Matthew's season.
In the top of the fifth, Jan Mercado led off with a triple to left field and scored on a single from Harrison Spohn one batter later to make it 3-2. After a walk to Torin Montgomery, Noah Williamson launched a flyball over the right-center field wall to put Jupiter up 5-3. The homer gave Williamson his second longball and fifth, sixth, and seventh runs batted in of the series.
In the bottom half of the same frame, Danny De Andrade and Cossetti drew consecutive walks with one out to place two runners on for Carlos Aguiar. On a 1-0 count, Aguiar blasted a fly ball over the concourse in right-center field for a three-run home run that gave Fort Myers a 6-5 lead.
In the top of the sixth, the Hammerheads answered back immediately. After Jorge Caballero walked and stole second base with two outs, Spohn singled on a ground ball to center to tie the game at 6-6. He has now driven in four runs throughout the first five games of the series.
With the contest still deadlocked at six in the top of the tenth inning, pinch runner Christhian Rodriguez was placed on second base as the extra-inning automatic runner to begin the frame. With one out, Jordan McCants seared a ground ball to center to give Jupiter a 7-6 lead.
In the bottom of the tenth, De Andrade was placed at second base as the automatic runner for Fort Myers and would advance to third on a wild pitch. With one out and two strikes, Aguiar chased a breaking ball in the dirt for strike three. However, the ball skipped past Jupiter's catcher, Mercado, and to the backstop. De Andrade scored on the wild pitch to tie the game at seven, and Aguiar reached first safely to set up Shuffield's game-winning dinger.
The win moved Fort Myers to 8-6 on the year and granted them their third in a row. With the Mussels leading the series 3-2, Tomas Cleto (0-1, 2.25) will get the nod for Fort Myers tomorrow as they eye the series victory. Jupiter will counter with right-hander Collin Lowe (1-0, 7.04). Coverage begins at 11:45 a.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
Southern League Stories from April 22, 2023
- Biscuits and M-Braves Split Doubleheader - Montgomery Biscuits
- Dominant Pitching, Hitting Lead Shuckers to Doubleheader Sweep Over Trash Pandas - Biloxi Shuckers
- Trash Pandas Swept by Shuckers in Twin Bill - Rocket City Trash Pandas
- Shuffield Moonshot Wins It for Fort Myers in 10-Inning Thriller - SL
- Late Rally Falls Short in 3-2 Loss - Pensacola Blue Wahoos
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