Mighty Mussels win four of six against Marauders
Third shutout of week propels Fort Myers to 1-0 victory over Bradenton in series finale
FORT MYERS – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels tossed their third shutout of the week to beat the Bradenton Marauders 1-0 Sunday at Hammond Stadium. It was the second consecutive game that the Mussels held the Marauders without a run, as Fort Myers took the series four games to two.
Mussels’ pitching now has a 2.69 ERA on the season, good for second in all of Class-A, behind just the Stockton Ports of the California League at 2.36. Fort Myers leads all of Class-A with 179 strikeouts on the season.
Making his first professional start, Fort Myers right-hander Jakob Hall tossed three scoreless frames. The eighth round pick in 2024 allowed one hit and issued one walk, while punching out a pair.
In the fourth, Jacob Kisting came on in relief of Hall. Kisting spun three hitless innings, while hitting a batter and walking another for the only two baserunners of his outing.
Still with no score in the seventh, Devin Kirby (1-0) was next out of the Mussel bullpen. The knuckleballer tossed a pair of scoreless frames, scattering two hits and striking out one Bradenton batter.
After a leadoff walk to Peyton Carr in the bottom of the inning, Angel Del Rosario came on as a pinch runner. A throwing error by Bradenton (5-10) pitcher Jose Garces (1-1) then allowed Del Rosario to advance to second. Miguel Briceno bounced out to second, but advanced Del Rosario to third in the process. With one out and the infield drawn in, Yohander Martinez’s check swing groundout to first scored Del Rosario, giving Fort Myers the only run of the contest.
Kade Bragg came on in the ninth to finish off the shutout. The lefty worked around a one-out single, striking out the side to earn his first save in 2025. It was the second career save for Bragg, after he picked up a save against Clearwater last year.
Fort Myers improves to 8-7 on the season, moving above .500 for the second time this year.
After an off day today, the Mussels will head to Clearwater to begin a six-game series against the Threshers at 6:30 p.m on Tuesday. Coverage begins at 6:10 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
Fort Myers tosses second shutout of series, beats Bradenton 8-0
FORT MYERS – Cole Peschl, Ivran Romero and Zander Sechrist combined to pitch the second shutout of the series as the Mighty Mussels downed the Bradenton Marauders 8-0 Saturday night at Hammond Stadium.
Making his first professional start, Fort Myers (7-7) starter Cole Peschl (1-0) picked up the win after five scoreless innings. The 15th round pick in 2024 surrendered two hits and issued one walk on the night. Peschl struck out six batters while throwing 47 of his 65 pitches for strikes.
Ivran Romero came on in relief of Peschl in the sixth, striking out a pair of batters and retiring the side in order.
The final pitcher of the night for Fort Myers, Zander Sechrist, earned the save after tossing three shutdown innings, allowing two hits while striking out three.
Mussel pitchers combined to strikeout 11 Marauder batters, extending their Florida State League-leading total to 173 on the season. The Mussels team ERA now sits at a league leading 2.89, nearly a full run better than the next closest team at 3.68.
The Mussels pounced on Bradenton (5-9) starter Peyton Stumbo early, chasing him from the game before the end of the first inning. Yasser Mercedes set the tone out of the gate, roping a leadoff double to left. Jay Thomason was then hit by a pitch to put two on with nobody out.
Two batters later, Daniel Pena slashed a double down the left field line, scoring Mercedes to give the Mussels a 1-0 advantage.
Jose Rodriguez followed with an RBI fielder’s choice as he drove in Thomason, moving the score to 2-0. Miguel Briceno then roped a double into right-center field, scoring Pena and making it 3-0.
Mussel shortstop Angel Del Rosario then singled to center, plating Rodriguez, pushing the Fort Myers lead to 4-0. The final run scoring hit of the inning came off the bat of Yohander Martinez, as he singled to drive in Briceno and make it 5-0.
Still leading by that score in the sixth, Thomason continued his tear at the plate, blasting a three-run home run to right field to extend the lead to 8-0. It was the third long ball of the series for Thomason with an exit velocity of 111 mph. He has now recorded an extra-base hit in four of the five games this week.
Fort Myers connected on a season high four extra-base hits in the win, while the defense played its first error free game of the series.
Fort Myers drops second consecutive game, 6-1, to Bradenton Friday
FORT MYERS – After winning the first two games of the series, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels lost their second straight contest to the Bradenton Marauders Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
Right-hander Jason Doktorczyk (2-1) took the loss for Fort Myers (6-7) despite a 10-strikeout performance. Doktorczyk surrendered three unearned runs across five innings, while allowing four hits while not issuing a walk. The 10 strikeouts is a new season high for a Mussels’ pitcher.
Bradenton (5-8) got on the board in the top of the second inning, scoring two runs on an error and getting another on an RBI single by Carlos Caro to take a 3-0 lead.
Major League rehabber Michael Tonkin was the first arm out of the Mussels’ bullpen, as he allowed an unearned run across two innings, while striking out three batters.
The Marauders plated another run in the seventh on the third Mussels’ error of the night, making it 4-0.
An inning later, Bradenton first baseman Derek Berg hit a solo home run to left field, extending the lead to 5-0.
After being held hitless by Marauder pitching through the first seven innings, Fort Myers finally got on the board in the eighth. Leading off the inning, Jose Rodriguez hit a towering homer onto the berm in left field, ending the no-hitter and the shutout, cutting the lead to 5-1.
Bradenton scored its final run of the night in the top of the ninth, again on a Fort Myers error, bringing the score to 6-1.
Fort Myers committed a season high four errors in total on the evening, leading to five unearned runs for Bradenton.