Mighty Mussels fall to Flying Tigers 2-0 in series finale
Two teams split six-game home and home series
Fort Myers — The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels fell 2-0 to the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the series finale Sunday at Hammond Stadium.
The loss resulted in a series split between the top two teams in the FSL West second half standings and snapped a six-game winning streak at home for the Mussels (42-52, 15-15).
Eli Jones (2-9) started on the mound for Fort Myers and faced one batter over the minimum through the first three innings of his outing.
Lakeland (59-33, 21-7) plated their first run of the day on Ricardo Hurtado’s RBI single in the fourth, which gave the Flying Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Jones allowed one run on a pair of hits and struck out four, and didn’t issue a walk across four innings of work.
Matt Gabbert struck out one batter as he worked a clean fifth inning out of the Mussel bullpen.
Jakob Hall took over for Gabbert in the top of the sixth, and picked up where Gabbert left off. Hall retired all six Flying Tiger hitters that he faced, and tallied a pair of strikeouts.
Lakeland added on in the top of the eighth against Tyler Stasiowski. The Flying Tigers began the frame with three straight singles, with Abel Bastidas driving in a run and doubling the lead to 2-0.
Stasiowski exited with one out, as Zander Sechrist took over in a bases-loaded jam. Sechrist punched out the next two Lakeland batters to escape the jam without allowing any further damage.
After an off day today, the Mussels will travel to Bradenton to begin a three-game set with the Marauders Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m., with coverage beginning at 6:20 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
Ross carries perfect game into sixth, Mighty Mussels blank Flying Tigers, 6-0
Fort Myers — Michael Ross dazzled on the mound as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels shutout the Lakeland Flying Tigers 6-0 Saturday night at Hammond Stadium.
Wearing their Miracle era throwbacks, Fort Myers (42-51, 15-14) starter Michael Ross (3-4) dominated Lakeland (58-33, 20-7) and carried a perfect game into the sixth inning.
Ross went 15 up and 15 down through his first five innings of work, racking up four strikeouts in the process.
The Flying Tigers finally reached base against Ross in the top of the sixth, as Stephen Hrustich worked a leadoff walk. Lakeland second baseman Junior Tilien then hit an infield single, marking the first hit of the night for Lakeland.
Ross retired the next three batters in order to polish off the first quality start of the season for any Fort Myers pitcher. He tossed six shutout innings and struck out five, while only allowing one hit and one walk.
Later in the game, the defense pulled off a miracle of their own. With runners at first and second and no outs in the eighth, Lakeland second baseman Junior Tilien grounded a ball to Miracle third baseman Rayne Doncon. Doncon stepped on third for the first out, fired to the second baseman Yohander Martinez for the second out, who then threw to Peyton Carr at first to record the first triple play of the season for Fort Myers.
The Miracle scored their first run of the game in the bottom of the third. Caleb McNeely singled to lead off the frame, and later touched the plate on an error by Flying Tigers’ shortstop Samuel Gil to make it 1-0 Miracle.
An inning later, Carr roped a ground-rule double to right center. That set up a McNeely RBI single to extend the Miracle margin to 2-0.
Ross exited after the sixth and gave way to Brennan Oxford. Oxford induced three flyouts to set down Lakeland in order in the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Miracle blew the game open. Martinez led off the inning with a walk and Jefferson Valladares followed with a single. Martinez then scored after Dameury Pena grounded into a fielder’s choice to give Fort Myers a 3-0 lead. Flying Tiger third baseman Carson Rucker made an errant throw on the play, which allowed everyone to be safe.
The next batter, Yasser Mercedes, lashed a three-run homer onto the berm in left field to double the Fort Myers lead, 6-0. It was Mercedes’ seventh long ball of the campaign.
Oxford allowed the first two Lakeland batters to reach in the top of the eighth before the defense turned the triple play behind him.
Ruddy Gomez recorded a strikeout and faced the minimum in the ninth to complete the fourth Fort Myers shutout of the season.
Mussels down Flying Tigers, 8-6
Fort Myers — The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels led wire-to-wire and defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers 8-6 Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
Fort Myers’ (41-51, 14-14) offense exploded in the bottom of the first against Lakeland (58-32, 20-6) starter Tyler Owens (0-1). Dameury Pena and Yasser Mercedes each singled to begin the frame, before Jay Thomason walked to load the bases.
Peyton Carr then roped a two-run single back up the middle to score Pena and Mercedes, giving the Mussels an early 2-0 lead.
Following Carr’s lead, Bryan Acuna singled down the first base line to score another pair and make it 4-0 Fort Myers after one inning.
The Mussels added on in the second, taking a 6-0 lead after a two-run homer by Thomason, who is on rehab from High-A. Despite not appearing in a game for Fort Myers since early June, Thomason’s eight homers are tied for the team lead.
Lakeland tagged Mussels’ starter Jason Doktorczyk for a pair of runs in the top of the third inning, as Triple-A rehabber Bligh Madris hit a two-run shot to cut the Fort Myers lead to 6-2.
An inning later, the Flying Tigers made it a one-run game, when catcher Enderson Delgado hit a three-run blast off Doktorczyk to make the score 6-5 Mussels.
Jose Rodriguez led off the bottom of the fourth with a towering solo home run to left field, which extended the lead to 7-5 Fort Myers. The homer put Rodriguez into a tie with Thomason for the team lead.
Doktorczyk faced the first two batters in the top of the fifth inning and allowed a run before exiting and giving way to Julio Bonilla (1-0). Bonilla struck out two straight Flying Tiger hitters to end the threat, but Lakeland again trailed by a run at 7-6.
Doktorczyk became the first Mussel pitcher to throw 90 pitches in a start this season. He tossed 4.1 innings on the night, and allowed six runs on five hits, while striking out five and walking a pair.
Bonilla set down the side in order in the top of the sixth, which marked the first clean inning of the night for Mussel pitching. He went 1.2 scoreless innings and punched out four.
In the sixth, Mercedes doubled with one-out in the frame. His third hit of the night marked a new season high. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Mercedes scored on another wild pitch and gave the Mussels an 8-6 lead.
Dylan Questad entered in the top of the seventh inning and struck out the first two batters he faced before working around a two-out single to retire the side.
Lakeland threatened in the eighth, putting runners at second and third with no outs. Questad buckled down though and retired the next three Flying Tigers in order to escape the jam.
Anthony Narvaez faced four in the ninth and silenced Lakeland to earn his first save of the season.