FORT MYERS – Dunedin jumped on Paulshawn Pasqualotto early as the Blue Jays coasted to an 8-3 victory at Hammond Stadium on Thursday night.

Pasqualotto (0-3) retired the first three batters of the game, but ran into trouble in the second inning. Manuel Beltre picked up an RBI fielder’s choice to begin the scoring before he and Cristian Feliz came around to score on an error by first baseman Rafael Cruz to make it 3-0.

Dunedin (13-17) plated another run in the top of the third inning on an RBI single from Yhoangel Aponte, who came around to score on a double from Beltre to push the lead to 5-0 in favor of the Blue Jays.

Beltre then picked up his third RBI in as many plate appearances, knocking in Edward Duran with a double to center field in the fifth. A couple batters later, Dunedin executed a first and third double steal to push the lead to 7-0.

Fort Myers (11-19) picked up their first run in the bottom half of the inning, as Cruz rifled a ball through the middle to make it a 7-1 ballgame.

The Blue Jays tallied their final run of the contest on a Bryce Arnold single to center in the seventh.

With the Mussels trailing 8-1, Cruz tripled to right before the Mussels got a sacrifice fly from Issac Pena to make it 8-2.

Rayne Doncon doubled to lead off the eighth inning and came around to score the final run of the evening on a sacrifice fly from Jose Rodriguez.

The Mussels are back in action on today at 7:05 p.m. as right hander Ty Langenberg (0-3, 5.75) gets the ball for the Mussels, opposite Fernando Perez (1-1, 3.65) for Dunedin. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.

The series concludes with games Saturday — first pitch is at 6:05 p.m., and Sunday, with a starting time of 12:05 p.m. Next up for the Mussels is a trip to Lakeland with games May 14-19.