Five-run fifth pushes Mussels past Cardinals 6-2

FORT MYERS, Fla. (September 7, 2021) – The Mighty Mussels rallied for five runs in the fifth inning Tuesday, taking the series opener with the Palm Beach Cardinals 6-2 at Hammond Stadium.

With the game tied 1-1 in the fifth, Will Holland walked with two outs. The next batter was Christian-Encarnacion Strand, who pummeled an RBI triple off the wall in center to put Fort Myers (53-52) in front 2-1. Encarnacion-Strand then raced home on a wild pitch to make it 3-1. After two more walks, the Cardinals (33-73) committed a throwing error to allow another run to score and stretch the lead to 4-1. The next batter was Charles Mack, who lined an opposite field home run to left to cap the inning at 6-1 Mighty Mussels.

Mack finished the night 2-for-4 with two extra-base hits, driving in two while scoring two.

Encarnacion-Strand continued his destruction of Low-A pitching, and is now batting .453 with seven extra-base hits through his first 13 professional games (.755 SLG). He has recorded at least one hit in each of them.

Zarion Sharpe (6-2) struck out a career-high eight batters over six quality innings. He allowed two runs on five hits and walked just two. Matthew Swain went three scoreless innings in relief, striking out five to notch his second save of the season.

Back over the .500 mark, the Mussels take on the Palm Beach Cardinals again at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. John Stankiewicz (0-0, 2.70) is scheduled to start for Fort Myers, opposed by Cardinals’ first-rounder Michael McGreevy (0-0, 9.00). Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.