Mussels Complete Comeback in 7-6 Walk-Off Win

FORT MYERS, Fla (June 2, 2022) – The Mighty Mussels erased a three-run deficit in the ninth inning Thursday, walking off with a 7-6 win in 10 innings over the Tampa Tarpons at Hammond Stadium.

Fort Myers (32-15) trailed 6-3 entering the bottom of the ninth. Keoni Cavaco led off the inning with a home run to left to cut the lead to 6-4. Kala’i Rosario singled, advanced on a wild pitch, and then scored on a double from Kyle Schmidt and cut the lead to 6-5. Four batters later, Emmanuel Rodriguez squibbed a single to first to load the bases. The next batter was Noah Cardenas, who was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run.

Malik Barrington (1-0) worked a scoreless ninth before stranding the ghost runner with a pair of strikeouts in the tenth.

In the bottom of the tenth, Mikey Perez started the inning at second and stole third. Then with runners on the corners and one out, Dillon Tatum hit a high pop fly in front of the mound. The Tampa (21-27) infielders came together, but the ball dropped behind second baseman Luis Santos. Santos then threw the ball to second to try and get trail runner Keoni Cavaco. That’s when Perez sped home, avoiding the tag to win the game 7-6.

Fort Myers got the scoring going early when Jake Rucker walked to lead off the bottom of the first. Rodriguez then tripled to right with one out to make it 1-0. He then scored on a wild pitch to extend the lead to 2-0.

In the top of the fourth, Tampa had the bases loaded after three walks for Ben Rice. Rice then launched a rocket to right-center field that landed in the seats for a grand slam, giving the Tarpons a 4-2 lead.

Tampa added on to the score in the fifth as Santos walked before Alexander Vargas singled. At the conclusion of the play, a throwing error allowed Santos to score and Vargas to move to third and make it 5-2. Vargas then scored on a single from Antonio Gomez and extended the lead to 6-2.

The Mussels inched closer in the bottom of the fifth as Luis Baez singled to left. Two batters later, Rodriguez tripled to right for the second time in the game to make it 6-3.

Before Barrington entered, three Mussels relievers tossed scoreless innings. Matt Mullenbach worked a 1-2-3 sixth before Juan Mendez struck out the side on just 13 pitches in the seventh. Niklas Rimmel struck out two in a perfect eighth.

The Mighty Mussels will look to stay hot on Friday as LHP Jaylen Nowlin (3-1, 5.12) takes on RHP Richard Fitts (0-3, 6.52) of the Tarpons. Coverage begins at 6:45 EDT on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.