Mussels weekend wrap: Fort Myers concludes season series with Tampa
Sprock, Fragoza spark big fifth inning as Mighty Mussels rout Tarpons in series finale
TAMPA, Fla. – Led by a nine-run top of the fifth inning, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels defeated the Tampa Tarpons by a final score of 13-3 Sunday afternoon at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Sunday’s game ends the 2026 season series against the Tarpons (36-33, 1-2). Fort Myers (39-29, 2-1) won two of the last three games in this series, meaning the Mighty Mussels own a potential second-half tiebreak with Tampa. Tiebreakers between head-to-head opponents only consider matchups in that half.
The Mussels scored at will at Steinbrenner Field this week. Fort Myers averaged 11.6 runs per game, scored 13+ runs in three of the six games and 9+ runs in five games. A combined 116 runs were scored in the series, with 24 total home runs. The Mussels recorded 75 hits and 28 extra-base hits this week.
With three more home runs Sunday, the Mighty Mussels have now hit a homer in 10 straight games, breaking a tie with the 2009 Miracle for the second-longest streak in franchise history. This streak trails only the May 2026 streak, which reached 11 games from 5/15-28. It is also the longest active streak in Single-A. Fort Myers has hit 20 homers during their current streak.
The Mighty Mussels had an eventful top of the fifth inning Sunday. Already leading the game 2-0, Ryan Sprock extended his historic hitting streak to 15 games. With a two-run double off Brennan Stuprich (2-2), Sprock is now hitting .429 with a 1.194 OPS during this run.
Sprock trails a trio of players for third-best hitting streak in franchise history (tracked since 2005) who are tied at 16 games, and is now just five games off the overall franchise record of 20, held by Christian Encarnacion-Strand in 2021.
Later in the inning, Luis Fragoza hit the Mighty Mussels fourth grand slam of the season and second of the series. Fragoza’s sixth home run of the year left the bat at 102.9 mph. Byron Chourio followed up with his third home run of the season. It is the first time the Mighty Mussels have gone back-to-back this season.
Fort Myers sent Hendry Chivilli to the mound to make his second start of the week. Chivilli worked four innings, the most since his promotion, allowing no runs on two hits with two strikeouts.
In the top of the second, Jayson Bass pulled a line-drive home run to right field to get the scoring started. Bass’ second straight at-bat with a home run, dating back to the ninth inning on Saturday, left the bat at 104 mph.
Bass’ home run extended the Mussels’ extra-base hit streak to 20 consecutive games, the fourth longest active streak in Single-A.
In the top of the fourth inning, Quentin Young blooped an RBI double into center field to drive in a run and double the lead, 2-0. Young recorded an extra-base hit in four of the five games he has played in during the series.
The Mighty Mussels sent 13 men to the plate in the fifth inning and tallied nine runs in the frame to take an 11-0 lead.
Callan Fang (2-0) took over for Chivilli and worked two scoreless innings. Fang earned his second win in as many outings as a Mussel.
Chourio collected his fourth hit of the day with an RBI double in the seventh inning to make it 12-0. Sunday marked Chourio’s second four-hit game of the season.
Matthew DesMartes took over in the seventh for Fang and worked around a two-out double to keep Tampa off the scoreboard.
Dylan Questad worked the eighth inning and allowed two unearned runs.
The Mussels added another run in the ninth inning and Michael Hilker Jr. finished off a series win over the Tarpons in the bottom of the frame.
Fort Myers returns home Tuesday, June 23, to play the St. Lucie Mets. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. with coverage beginning at 5:40 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.
Sprock’s historic hitting streak reaches 14 games: Mussels storm back to beat Tarpons
TAMPA, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels defeated the Tampa Tarpons by a final score of 13-11 Saturday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Ryan Sprock’s fourth inning 107.1 mph single marked 14 consecutive games with a hit. Sprock’s knock lifted him past current Minnesota Twins No. 1 prospect Walker Jenkins for sole possession of the second-longest hitting streak in the Mussels’ era (since 2020). This also marks a season-high for any player in the Florida State League. Sprock is hitting .431 with a 1.183 OPS during his streak. He now owns the third best average in the FSL at .309.
Fort Myers (38-29, 1-1) sent Jason Reitz to the mound to make his fourth start of the season. Reitz worked around a one-out single to keep the score tied through one inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Logan Maxwell led off with his fourth home run of the season. It was the first home run Reitz has allowed in his professional career.
The Mussels struck back in the third inning. Luis Fragoza led off the frame with a walk, then later came home to score on a wild pitch by Tarpons (36-32, 1-1) starter Tyler Boudreau to tie the game at one.
In the bottom of the third, for the second consecutive inning, Tampa led off with a solo home run. This time, it was Luis Escudero taking Reitz deep on the 10th home run of the series by the Tarpons.
The Mighty Mussels continued to respond to Tampa’s offensive pressure in the top of the fourth inning. After Sprock’s streak-extending single, with two on and one out, JP Smith II roped a hard-hit single into left field to tie the game at two. Jayson Bass followed up with his ninth double of the season to give Fort Myers the lead, 3-2.
The next batter was Twins No. 14 prospect Quentin Young, who blistered his eighth home run of the season to extend the lead to 5-2 Fort Myers. Young’s second home run of the series left the bat at 109.5 mph.
In the bottom of the fifth, facing reliever Merit Jones, Escudero homered again to lead off the inning, making the score 5-3, Fort Myers. Jones later stranded a runner at third to keep the lead at two runs.
Jones gave up three consecutive hits to lead off the sixth inning, including a game-tying, two-run double by David McCann. Four more runs came in against Jones, who was relieved by Jonathan Stevens (4-1) later in the inning, and the Mussels went down 9-5.
Fort Myers immediately rallied in the top of the seventh inning against Tampa’s Jose M. Rodriguez and Pedro Rodriguez (1-2). Dameury Pena drove in a run with a single, then Sprock tore into a double to left-center field to score two runs. Two batters later, Smith tied the game with an RBI single to plate Sprock. Three batters later, Fragoza gave the Mussels the lead with a two-run single. A total of seven runs scored in the inning to put the Mighty Mussels on top 12-9.
The Tarpons responded with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning against Stevens to make it a one-run game. Stevens was relieved by Nick McAuliffe with the bases loaded and two outs. In just his second outing as a Mussel, McAuliffe retired Maxwell to preserve the lead, aided by a superb stop from second baseman D. Pena.
Bass added a solo home run in the ninth inning to make the score 13-11, connecting on his seventh blast of the season.
McAuliffe allowed two baserunners to reach in the bottom of the ninth and was relieved by Brent Francisco (S1), who retired the two Tarpons he faced, securing Fort Myers’ first win of the second half.
JP Smith returns in grand style but Mussels bullpen gives up first game of second half
TAMPA, Fla. (June 19, 2026) – JP Smith II made a grand return to the lineup and Ryan Sprock extended his historic hitting streak as the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels were defeated by the Tampa Tarpons 8-7 Friday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The contest kicked off the second half of the Florida State League season.
Sprock’s knock in the third inning extended his hitting streak to 13 games, matching Walker Jenkins (2024) for the second longest streak of the Mussels’ era (since 2020). The duo trails only Christian Encarnacion-Strand, who hit safely in 20 consecutive games in 2021. Sprock is also now in a three-way tie with Jude Warwick (LAK) and Willy Montero (TAM) for the longest hitting streak in the FSL this season.
Despite back-to-back, one-out walks in the top of the first, the Mussels (37-29, 0-1) could not break the scoreboard against Tampa (36-31, 1-0) starter Henry Lalane.
Fort Myers sent Ramiro Villanueva to the mound and the 20-year-old struck out the leadoff hitter en route to a clean first inning.
In the bottom of the second inning, Luis Puello hit a leadoff home run. Puello, now with seven home runs on the year, has hit four blasts in his first five at bats against Fort Myers this week.
The Mighty Mussels responded in grand fashion in the top of the third. Dameury Pena and Sprock each recorded one-out singles, then Ramiro Dominguez worked a walk.
Appearing in his first game in two weeks, JP Smith II launched an opposite-field grand slam to give the Mussels a 4-1 lead. Smith’s blast marked Fort Myers’ third grand slam of the season, with the previous two coming on consecutive days against Bradenton in mid-May.
Jake Murray relieved Villanueva with one out in the fifth. Murray allowed two inherited runners to score, but held the lead at 4-3 through five innings.
Facing Dylan Questad (0-1) in the seventh, the Tarpons took the lead. Tampa tied the score on a wild pitch by Questad. The next batter was Jackson Lovich, who hit a two-run home run to give the Tarpons a 6-4 lead.
Fort Myers got a run closer in the eighth inning against Greyson Carter (4-0) with Sprock scoring on a double play.
Tampa scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to make the score 8-5.
The Mighty Mussels rallied in the ninth inning against Josh Tiedemann (S5) but fell short as they dropped the first game of the second half.
Following the conclusion of Thursday’s contests across MiLB, below are some notable stat rankings and streaks for Fort Myers from the first-half of the season:
• Team batting average: .257 (1st FSL)
• Stolen bases: 154 (1st FSL, 3rd in Single-A)
• Home run streak: The offense homered in 11 consecutive games from May 15-28 which was the longest streak in the FSL this season and the longest in franchise history since MLB began tracking such streaks in 2005.
• Runs scored: 391 (1st FSL)
• Run differential: +60 (1st FSL, 3rd Single-A)
• ERA: 4.19 (2nd FSL, 5th in Single-A)
• Pitching walks: 261 (Fewest in FSL, 6th lowest in Single-A)
• Shutouts: 8 (2nd in all of MiLB)
• Dameury Pena: .326 average and hits 75 (both led FSL and were 5th in Single-A)
• Ryan Sprock: .414 OBP 2nd FSL
• Merit Jones: 59.1 innings (1st FSL) and 3.46 ERA (2nd FSL)
• Reed Moring and Michael Hilker Jr.: Had the two longest scoreless streaks without allowing an earned run in the FSL at 19.2 and 16 innings, respectively