Duran, Houghton Lead Offensive Explosion in 16-2 Mussels Victory

FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 28, 2023) – Maddux Houghton and Gregory Duran led a Mighty Mussels’ offensive explosion Wednesday, as Fort Myers tamed the Flying Tigers 16-2 at Hammond Stadium.

Houghton notched a career-high four hits and four RBI, finishing a home run away from the cycle. Duran finished the evening 3-for-3 with two walks, four runs scored and a career best five RBI.

Despite the final results, the Mighty Mussels’ (36-34, 2-2) offense was quiet early against rehabber Jackson Jobe.

With no score in the top of the third, Cristian Santana led off with a single to left. After starter Andrew Morris (2-1) retired the next two hitters, Seth Stephenson tripled to left to make it 1-0 Lakeland (26-43, 0-4).

Moments later, the game was delayed for one hour and 51 minutes, capping Morris’ night at 2.2 innings of one-run ball.

After the delay and a couple of quiet innings, the Mussels’ bats awoke in the fifth. Dylan Neuse walked to lead off the frame before Duran scorched a double to right to cut the deficit to 2-1. The next hitter was Houghton, who served a liner down the left field line to tie the game at 2-2.

In the bottom of the sixth, Neuse doubled before Kyle Schmidt and Duran drew walks to load the bases with no outs. Houghton followed with a ringing double to the left-center field gap that cleared the bases to give Fort Myers a 5-2 advantage. Ricardo Olivar and Danny De Andrade then notched consecutive doubles to score two more and push the lead to 7-2. Two batters and one out later, Kamron Willman notched his first hit at Hammond Stadium with a double down the left-field line to bring home De Andrade to extend the Mussels’ lead to 8-2.

After walks to Schmidt and Neuse, Duran smashed an opposite-field grand slam to left to break the game wide open at 12-2. The next hitter was Houghton, who tripled to right and scored on a wild pitch to push the lead to 11 runs.

The 11-run outburst matched Fort Myers’ biggest inning of the season, matching the total they scored in the 5^th inning of their May 23 game in Dunedin. In the process, they collected seven extra-base hits and brought 15 batters to the plate.

In the bottom of the eighth, the two Mussels reached via an error and walk. The next batter was De Andrade, who launched a three-run bomb to left to cap the scoring at 16-2 Fort Myers. Wednesday’s win was the Mussels’ highest scoring output and their largest margin of victory of the 2023 season.

The Mussels will send Ben Ethridge (0-4, 2.97) to the hill on Thursday to counter minor-league rehabber Tanner Kohlhepp. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. with coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.