Mighty Mussels drop four straight
Dunedin wins Sunday series finale, 3-0
DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were shutout 3-0 in a rain shortened five inning contest against the Dunedin Blue Jays Sunday afternoon.
Game two of the doubleheader was cancelled and will not be made up.
Dunedin (33-29) opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. The Blue Jays scored a run despite not recording a hit in the frame as a trio of walks from Mussels’ (27-35) starter Dylan Questad (1-4) and a pair of Mussels’ throwing errors allowed Lizandro Rodriguez to score.
The Blue Jays tacked on another two runs in the fourth. Bryce Arnold led off the frame with a single to center for the first Dunedin hit. Yohangel Aponte followed with a double to left-center to make it 2-0. With two outs, Peyton Powell beat out an infield single and Aponte scored all the way from second to extend the lead 3-0.
Questad allowed three runs (two earned) across 3.2 innings of work while picking up four strikeouts.
Dunedin set a new season high with five stolen bases in the 3-0 win.
The Mussels return home Tuesday, June 17, for the start of a six-game set against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. First pitch from Hammond stadium is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. with coverage beginning on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network at 5:45 p.m. The first half of the season comes to a close following the midway point on the series on Thursday.
Mussels suffer 8-7 walk-off loss to Blue Jays in 11 innings Saturday
DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels suffered an 8-7 walk-off loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays in 11 innings Saturday night at TD Ballpark.
The Mighty Mussels (27-34) rallied for two runs in the top of the 11th, but the Blue Jays (32-29) came away with a walk-off win on a Edward Duran single to give Fort Myers its first extra-inning loss of the season.
The Mussels were previously 5-0 in extra-inning games and the 3:42 game time matched an 11-inning win the Mussels had against Dunedin last month for the longest game of the season.
All four games in the series have been decided by one run.
The Blue Jays opened the scoring in the second on an RBI single from Duran, making it 1-0. Dunedin added a pair of runs in the third after Dasan Hill walked the first two batters of the frame. An error and a sacrifice fly from Alexis Hernandez made it 3-0 Dunedin.
Hill yielded three runs (one earned) across 3.1 innings of work. The lefty picked up three strikeouts but issued a season high four walks, two of which saw ball four come on a pitch timer violation.
Fort Myers responded in the fourth when the Mussels sent 10 men to the plate. With the bases loaded and one out, Byron Chourio laced a single up the middle to open the scoring. Walker Jenkins plated the second Mussels run on an error to cut the deficit to one. Dameury Pena then lined a single the other way, plating Chourio and tying the game 3-3. Fort Myers took its first lead of the night a few pitches later as Johan Simon threw a wild pitch, allowing Jenkins to score the go-ahead run.
In the bottom of the sixth, Tucker Toman pulled a leadoff single to right field. A pair of groundouts advanced Toman to scoring position and set the table for a Kendry Chirinos single up the middle, tying the game 4-4.
The Mussels immediately responded in the seventh, and retook the lead on a Yohander Martinez base hit, making it 5-4.
Dunedin tied the game once again in the eighth on a solo homer from Tucker Toman off of Ivran Romero.
Neither team scored in the ninth or 10th despite consistent traffic on the bases.
In the top of the 11th, Angel Del Rosario placed down a bunt single, and a subsequent throwing error allowed the auto-runner Chourio to score and put Fort Myers back in front. Later in the frame, Caleb McNeely delivered a two-out single to extend the lead 7-5.
Ruddy Gomez (0-1), who had put up zeros in the ninth and 10th, was tasked with a third inning of relief for the first time this season. With an auto-runner at second, he gave up a leadoff homer to Alexis Hernandez, tying the game 7-7. A walk to Yohangel Apone and a single from Kendry Chirinos set up first and third with nobody out. Jacob Lojewski then lined into a double play, erasing the runner at third.
A walk to the next batter, Manuel Beltre, set up first and second. Gomez was then replaced by Zander Sechrist after a season high 55 pitches. Sechrist allowed the walk-off single from Duran on the first pitch of the at bat.
Chourio paced the Mussel offense with his first three-hit game of the season.
Mussels swept in doubleheader by Blue Jays
DUNEDIN, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were swept in Friday’s doubleheader against the Dunedin Blue Jays at TD Ballpark.
The Mussels (27-33) fell 3-2 in game one and were shutout 1-0 in game two by Dunedin (31-29). This was the first doubleheader of the season for Fort Myers.
In game one, Dunedin jumped ahead to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when the game began on Thursday before the contest was suspended with runners at second and third and two outs in the frame. Adrian Bohorquez entered the resumed game on Friday and allowed both inherited runners to score, putting the Blue Jays ahead 3-0 after an inning of play.
Bohorquez worked 2.1 innings and struck out three hitters without allowing a run of his own.
The score remained unchanged until the fifth, when Yohander Martinez connected on a solo homer to left to make it 3-1.
The next inning, Byron Chourio and Walker Jenkins connected on back-to-back singles to open the frame. The duo advanced on the throw in from right field, setting up second and third with nobody out. Two batters later, Bryan Acuna pounded a high chopping grounder to short, plating Chourio and cutting the deficit to one.
Josh Bortka and Matt Gabbert combined to throw three perfect innings of relief, with Gabbert tossing two frames in his 2025 debut.
Fort Myers fell 3-2 in game one as Colby Martin picked up his sixth save of the season and retired the side in order in the seventh.
In game two, starters Michael Ross (1-2) and Landen Maroudis traded zeros across the first three innings. Dunedin scored the lone run of the game in the fourth, when Manuel Beltre plated Sam Shaw on a single to left.
Ross finished his outing with five innings of one run ball, as he struck out five hitters and matched a season high with 86 pitches.
Maroudis threw four innings of hittless baseball in his Low-A debut. The Mussels recorded two hits off Gilberto Batista (3-4) who covered the final three innings for Dunedin.