Ninth inning rally comes up short in series opener

FORT MYERS, Fla. - A furious ninth inning Miracle rally fell short in a series opening 6-3 loss to the Charlotte Stone Crabs on Thursday night at Hammond Stadium.
Trailing 6-0 entering the ninth, the Miracle made things interesting. Akil Baddoo tripled, before scoring on a Lewin Diaz ground out. Jose Miranda followed with a double and moved to third on a Trevor Larnach base hit. With runners at first and third and one out, Ryan Jeffers doubled to deep center to cut the deficit to 6-2. Ben Rortvedt sliced the deficit in half with a ground out, but Michael Helman bounced to first with the tying run in the on deck circle to end the game.
Charlotte broke an early tie with a Zac Law bases loaded ground out in the second. Garrett Whitley and Ronaldo Hernandez then homered in the fifth and sixth respectively, to push Charlotte's lead to 3-0.
The Stone Crabs added to their lead with a three-run seventh. Whitley, Tyler Frank, and Jim Haley all collected RBI in the frame.
Tyler Watson (0-2) suffered the loss despite surrendering two runs on three hits in 5.2 innings. The left-hander walked one and struck out five.
Paul Campbell (1-2) earned his first win of the season after tossing 6.2 scoreless innings. Campbell allowed one hit, a first inning single, and walked one. He struck out five.
After scoring 19 runs on 36 hits on Sunday and Monday, the Miracle have been held to six runs on 14 hits in their last three contests.
The three-game series continues on Friday night from Hammond Stadium. Right-hander Bailey Ober, who has not allowed an earned run in 12 innings to begin the year, will start for the Miracle.