BRADENTON, Fla. - The Fort Myers Miracle rallied to defeat the Bradenton Marauders, 8-3, Saturday night at LECOM Park. The win was the Miracle's third straight to start the second half. Down 3-0 after two innings, the Miracle erupted for four runs in the third inning. Joe Cronin scored on a
BRADENTON, Fla. - The Fort Myers Miracle rallied to defeat the Bradenton Marauders, 8-3, Saturday night at LECOM Park. The win was the Miracle's third straight to start the second half.
Down 3-0 after two innings, the Miracle erupted for four runs in the third inning. Joe Cronin scored on a wild pitch before Mark Contreras and Alex Kirilloff each produced RBI singles to tie the game. The Miracle added another run on a wild pitch to take a 4-3 lead.
Still leading 4-3 in the fifth, Ben Rortvedt collected his fifth RBI over his last two games with a single to right to push the lead to 5-3. The Miracle made it 7-3 in the seventh on RBI hits from Cronin and Brandon Lopez. A throwing error on a Contreras stolen base in the ninth produced the Miracle's final run of the night.
Griffin Jax (1-0) earned his first win of the season after tossing seven innings. He allowed three runs (two earned) over his first two innings of work before tossing five straight scoreless innings. The Englewood, Colorado native walked one and struck out one.
Ryan Mason followed Jax and pitched two scoreless innings. He struck out two.
Mike Wallace (3-3) suffered his third loss of the season after allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits in 5.1 innings. Wallace is the third straight Bradenton starter to allow 10 or more hits in the series.
Jordan Jess allowed three runs (two earned) in 2.2 innings of work before giving way to Angel German. The right-hander pitched a perfect ninth and struck out two.
Mitchell Tolman (sacrifice fly) and Casey Hughston (two-run home run) drove in runs for the Marauders.
Fort Myers has collected at least 8 runs and at least 14 hits in every game this series.
The Miracle go for the four-game sweep Sunday afternoon in Bradenton. Andro Cutura (3-2, 3.72) makes the start for Fort Myers. Oddy Nunez (2-5, 3.63) gets the ball for Bradenton. First pitch is 1:00 p.m.
