Mussels drop series finale to Lakeland, 8-4, start second half with 2-1 record
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FORT MYERS – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels lost 8-4 to the Lakeland Flying Tigers in the series finale on Sunday at Hammond Stadium.
Fort Myers' (29-38, 2-1) starter Eli Jones worked in and out of trouble across the first two innings of his outing. Lakeland (39-28, 1-2) loaded the bases with nobody out in the first and Jones limited the damage to just one run. He then worked around a pair of base runners in the second to put a zero on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the second, the Mussels' Damuery Pena laced a leadoff single to center. A Lakeland error moved him into scoring position. Two batters later, Blaze O'Saben shot an opposite field single to right field to get the Mussels on the board and tie the game 1-1.
Jones wasn't able to escape trouble in the fourth inning though, as the first three batters of the inning all recorded base hits. He issued a walk to Woody Hadeen before giving way to Tyler Stasiowski.
The Flying Tigers plated three runs in the frame, all of which were charged to Jones and took a 4-1 lead. He finished the day going three-plus innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits, while striking out three.
Still trailing by that score in the sixth, Billy Amick poked a leadoff single through the right side of the infield. Dameury Pena followed with an opposite field single of his own and Caleb McNeely worked a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Miguel Briceno brought a run home on a ground out to make it 4-2. O'Saben followed with a two-run double to right-center, tying the game 4-4. The knock marked his first three-hit game as a Mussel.
Lakeland regained the lead an inning later, as Ricardo Hurtado singled off Mussels' reliever Josh Bortka (0-2) to drive in Carson Rucker and give the Flying Tigers a 5-4 advantage.
In the eighth, Lakeland tagged Bortka for three more runs, extending their lead to 8-4.
Brennan Oxford got the final out of the eighth, before tossing a scoreless ninth inning.
After an off day today, Fort Myers will travel to Tampa to take on the Tarpons for a six-game series. First pitch for Tuesday’s series opener is set for 6:30 p.m. from the Steinbrenner Complex. Due to the Tarpons playing on the back fields of the complex, there will be limited coverage of the series, with only live stats available. The next broadcast on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network will be Tuesday, July 1, when the Mussels visit the Bradenton Marauders.
Mighty Mussels topple Flying Tigers 5-2 Saturday in second straight comeback victory
FORT MYERS – For the second straight night, the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels came from behind to beat the Lakeland Flying Tigers, taking game four of the series 5-2 on Saturday night at Hammond Stadium.
Lakeland (38-28, 0-2) took an early advantage over Fort Myers (29-37, 2-0) with a pair of runs in the third. Franyerber Montilla's double in the top of the inning off Mussels’ starter Dasan Hill gave the Flying Tigers a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Jackson Strong singled to plate Montilla and make it 2-0 Lakeland.
Hill went 2.2 innings, allowing a pair of runs on two hits, while issuing four walks and striking out two.
He was replaced by Ivran Romero, who recorded the final out of the third inning and pitched a scoreless fourth.
Dylan Questad (2-4) entered in the top of the fifth inning and retired the side in order.
In the bottom of the fifth, Angel Del Rosario reached on an error by Lakeland third baseman Carson Rucker. Byron Chourio then singled before Billy Amick was walked to load the bases.
Yasser Mercedes, who had Friday's walk-off hit, delivered again for the Mussels. He roped a single to left-center field to score Del Rosario and cut the lead to 2-1.
One batter later, Bryan Acuna drew a bases loaded walk, which tied the game 2-2.
Caleb McNeely gave Fort Myers their first lead of the night at 3-2 after driving in a run with an infield single.
The Mussels got their final run of the frame off the bat of Jefferson Valladares, who made it 4-2 on a sacrifice fly to left field.
Blaze O'Saben doubled down the third base line to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning. After moving to third on a sacrifice bunt from Del Rosario, O'Saben scored on a wild pitch by Lakeland's Ryan Harvey to extend the lead to 5-2.
Questad finished the night tossing four hitless innings, facing just one batter above the minimum. The 20-year-old right-hander struck out five Lakeland hitters on the night.
With the Mussels still leading by three in the ninth, Ruddy Gomez worked around a pair of baserunners to earn his third save of the season.
Mussels open second half of season with walk-off win, 6-5
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels erased a 5-0 deficit to walk-off the Lakeland Flying Tigers 6-5 on Friday night at Hammond Stadium.
The Mussels (28-37, 1-0) rallied for a pair of runs in the seventh, eighth,and ninth to mount a late-inning, come from behind win to open the second half of the FSL season.
Trailing 5-4 in the ninth, Damuery Pena worked a four-pitch walk to put the tying run aboard. Billy Amick then doubled to right field to set up second and third and put the winning run in scoring position. Angel Del Rosario was then called on to pinch run for Amick at second. With the infield drawn in, Yasser Mercedes grounded a base hit up the middle, giving Fort Myers its third walk-off victory of the season.
After Fort Myers starter Adrian Bohorquez struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Lakeland (38-27, 0-1) got on the board in the top of the second. Bohorquez hit Flying Tigers' first baseman Garrett Pennington with a pitch to lead off the frame, who later came around to score on an error by second baseman Dameury Pena to make it 1-0 Lakeland.
Lakeland added another run an inning later, as Woody Hadeen hit a solo homer to extend the lead to 2-0.
Bohorquez finished the night tossing four complete innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on a pair of hits, while striking out a season-high eight batters.
The Flying Tigers would tack on another run in the fifth, facing Mussels' reliever Michael Ross. Ross retired the first two batters of the inning, but then walked Hadeen, who stole a base and then scored on an RBI single from Samuel Gil, pushing the margin to 3-0.
In the top of the sixth, Lakeland plated another run on a single by Sergio Tapia to make it 4-0.
An error by Mussels' third baseman Yohander Martinez allowed the final Lakeland run of the game to score in the top of the seventh, which gave the Flying Tigers a 5-0 advantage.
In the home half of the seventh, the Fort Myers offense broke through. Daniel Pena and Jefferson Valladares both reached on infield singles to begin the inning. Martinez then walked on four pitches to load the bases. Byron Chourio struck out, before Dameury Pena grounded into a fielder's choice to plate the first Mussel run of the game and cut into the lead 5-1. Billy Amick then reached on an error, which allowed Martinez to score and made it 5-2 Lakeland.
In the eighth, Daniel Pena drew a two-out walk to bring Valladares to the plate. Valladares launched his fourth homer of the season onto the berm in left field, drawing the Mussels within a run at 5-4.
Jakob Hall (3-0) faced the top of the Lakeland lineup in the ninth and retired the side in order.
Friday marked the teams second win of the year when trailing after seven innings of play.