Florida Falls Short of Split With Loss to Fort Myers

FORT MYERS, Fla. (April 12, 2018) - The Florida Fire Frogs finished up their four-game series against the Fort Myers Miracle on Thursday night with an 8-2 loss at Hammond Stadium. The defeat handed the Fire Frogs their second series defeat to start the season.

Tucker Davidson (0-2) worked a scoreless first, but surrendered two runs in both the second and third innings before being lifted with the bases loaded and two outs in the third for Connor Johnstone .
Fort Myers (5-3) plated its first two runs of the night with a two-run home run from Lewin Diaz in the second. The Miracle first baseman added another RBI in the third with a double to right, bringing home Caleb Hamilton all the way from first to give the home team a four-run advantage.
Hamilton drove home Mitchell Kranson with a single to right before Diaz's third RBI of the game.
Back-to-back free passes from Davidson ended the night for the young southpaw after 2.2 innings. The Texas native finished the night with four runs allowed on six hits, five walks and two strikeouts on 71 pitchers (35 strikes).
Connor Johnstone relieved Florida's (2-6) starter with the bases loaded and induced an inning-ending groundout to limit the damage. The right-handed reliever held the Miracle off the board in his 2.1 relief innings, punching out three and walking just one.
Jared James (1x4, R, HR, RBI) broke up Tyler Wells (1-0) bid for a perfect game with a solo shot over the wall in right to lead off the fourth to pull the Fire Frogs within three.
The starter for the Miracle held the Fire Frogs to just one run on one hit, one walk and eight strikeouts in five frames.
The Miracle pushed four runs across against Mauricio Cabrera in the sixth to break the game open to 8-1. The right-handed reliever delivered three consecutive wild pitches in an at-bat to Jaylin Davis, allowing Kranson and Jimmy Kerrigan to score the final two runs of the inning.
Justin Ellison (1x3, R, 3B) started the eighth with a triple and came home to score on an RBI groundout from Omar Obregon (0x3, RBI) to give the game its 8-2 score.
Florida will head down to Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium to take on the Palm Beach Cardinals for a three-game, weekend series starting Friday night. LHP Joey Wentz (0-0, 2.25) starts the opener for the Fire Frogs against RHP Mike O'Reilly (1-0, 1.93) for the Cardinals. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
Florida returns to Osceola County Stadium for a seven-game homestand beginning Tuesday, April 17 against the St. Lucie Mets and Lakeland Flying Tigers. The seven games feature Los Coquis Night on April 19, and Superhero Night on April 21.
For ticket and promotional information, please visit floridafirefrogs.com.
About the Florida Fire Frogs
The Florida Fire Frogs are the Advanced-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and compete in the Florida State League. The Fire Frogs play their home games at Osceola County Stadium, located at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. For more information, please visit www.FloridaFireFrogs.com, and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.
###