Smith II shines as Mussels split doubleheader in Dunedin
DUNEDIN, Fla. – JP Smith II homered in each game as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels split their doubleheader with the Dunedin Blue Jays at TD Ballpark Thursday.
The two games had a drastically different feel, with game one featuring 24 combined hits and extra innings, and game two showcasing stellar starting pitching.
Smith II moved his name into the record books by homering in his third consecutive game. That streak marks the second longest home run streak by a player in the Mighty Mussels’ era (since 2020), trailing only Andrew Cossetti who homered in four straight games in the 2023 season.
Game one — Fort Myers 10, Dunedin 8, 8 innings)
With two outs in the first, Ramiro Dominguez doubled, then Smith II followed up by connecting on a two-run home run to give the Mussels an early 2-0 lead. After his second home run of the series, Smith moved his total to four in 2026.
Fort Myers sent High-A rehabber Michael Carpenter to the mound in the first game of the twinbill. Carpenter, who had one rehab appearance with the FCL Twins, made 17 starts for the Mighty Mussels in 2025. He gave up two hits in the first inning but stranded runners at the corners to keep Dunedin off the board.
In the top of the second inning, the Mussels continued to add on to their lead with RBI hits from Dameury Pena and Byron Chourio to make it 4-0.
After allowing a run in the second, Carpenter finished his outing after 1.1 innings, giving up three hits, one run and striking out one Blue Jay. He threw 31 pitches and 18 strikes.
Trailing by two runs, Dunedin rallied against Reed Moring and Jonathan Stevens in the fifth to take a 6-4 lead.
In the top of the sixth, facing Bradley Wilson (0-1), the Mussels loaded the bases with two out but failed to score after Ian Daugherty flew out to the warning track.
In the top of the seventh inning, Enrique Jimenez drew a two-out walk to keep the game going. The next batter was Dominguez, who demolished a game-tying, two-run home run onto the batter’s eye to level the score at six.
Dominguez clobbered his sixth home run of the season 419 feet, leaving the bat at 102.2 mph.
Brent Francisco (4-0) relieved Stevens in the bottom of the seventh and worked a clean frame to send Game One to extra innings.
In the top of the 8th inning, with Smith as the auto-runner Jayson Bass led off with a walk. Bass scored on a base hit by Ryan Sprock. Chourio and Pena each had RBI knocks in the inning as well as the Mussels exploded for four runs, leading 10-6.
Both Chourio and Pena had three hits in the game, combining for more than half of Fort Myers’ offensive output. Chourio had three runs batted in, and Pena had two RBI and a triple.
After giving up a leadoff two-run home run, Francisco stranded the tying run on base to secure the 10-8 extra innings win.
Game two — Dunedin 4, Fort Myers 3
The Mighty Mussels tabbed Matthew Dalquist with the start in game two. Dalquist fanned two Blue Jays in the bottom of the first inning.
Dunedin struck in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI fielder’s choice by David Beckles to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, the Mighty Mussels offense finally got rolling against Dunedin starter Troy Guthrie.
Following one-out hits by Quentin Young and Merphy Hernandez, Bryan Acuna drove in the tying run on a sacrifice fly. One batter later, Pena gave the Mussels the lead with a run-scoring single. Fort Myers led 2-1 after five innings.
In the top of the sixth inning, Smith went deep again, making it three consecutive games with a home run, moving him one shy of matching Cossetti’s record.
Dylan Questad relieved Dalquist in the sixth inning after five strong innings of two-hit, scoreless baseball. Dalquist recorded four strikeouts and only faced three above the minimum. He is the first Mussels’ pitcher to have multiple outings of five innings this season.
Questad loaded up the bases and surrendered one run but delivered two key strikeouts with the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position to preserve the lead. It was 3-2 after six innings.
In the bottom of the seventh, Quetsad was relieved by Xaiver Kolhosser (2-1). Kolhosser gave up a leadoff single, and a triple from Raimundo De Los Santos tied the game. The next batter was Jake Cook, who singled past a drawn-in infield, scoring the game winning run as Dunedin walked off the Mussels, 4-3.
The series continues today, May 22. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. from TD Ballpark.