Miracle fall behind early, lose series finale to Charlotte

FORT MYERS, Fla. - The Fort Myers Miracle surrendered seven early runs to the Charlotte Stone Crabs, and then saw a ninth inning rally fall short in a 7-2 loss on Saturday night at Hammond Stadium.
Down 7-1 in the ninth, the Miracle loaded the bases with one out. After a Ryan Costello sacrifice fly cut the deficit to 7-2, the Miracle re-loaded the bases on a Michael Helman single. But Akil Baddoo and Royce Lewis struck out to end the game.
Charlotte scored three runs in the first. With the bases loaded and one out, Ronaldo Hernandez scored two with a single to center. Jim Haley followed with an RBI single of his own.
The Stone Crabs tacked on four more runs in the second. Vidal Brujan and Zach Rutherford each collected RBI, before Hernandez drove in two more runs with a single.
Charlie Barnes started for the Miracle and allowed seven runs in 1.2 innings. Barnes (1-2) walked five, including the game's first four batters.
The trio of Tom Hackimer, Alex Phillips, and Anthony Vizcaya teamed up to hold the Stone Crabs scoreless over the game's final 7.2 innings.
After a league wide off day on Sunday in observance of the Easter holiday, the Miracle open a three-game series on Monday night against the Bradenton Marauders, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.