Hermsen earns first win with Miracle over Jupiter
Hermsen (1-0) scattered eight hits, one run and struck out five with only one walk in six complete innings. Half of the eight Hammerhead hits came off of bats from MLB rehabilitation players Omar Infante and Chris Coghlan.
The Miracle starter's best work came in the fifth inning. After back-to-back singles from Infante and Coghlan to begin the inning, Hermsen won a seven pitch at-bat against another MLB rehabber, Donnie Murphy. At 3-2, Hermsen painted the outside corner to retire Murphy looking for the first out of the inning.
Hermsen then punched out Chase Austin and forced Sergio Pedroza into an infield pop-up to strand two Hammerheads on base. Hermsen stranded eight Jupiter base runners in his six innings of work.
The Miracle offense gave Hermsen an early cushion with four runs in the top of the second inning. Oswaldo Arcia led off with a solo homerun over the right center field wall on the first pitch from Jupiter starter Edgar Olmos. Arcia finished the game 3-for-3 with a sixth inning double.
Fort Myers received RBI plate appearances from Jamaal Hawkins and Angel Morales in the second. Hawkins delivered a run scoring double down the first base line on an 0-2 pitch and Morales earned a RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Nick Romero drove in the fifth and final run for the Miracle in the sixth inning with a ground out that plated Arcia from third. Romero leads Fort Myers with 51 runs batted in for the season.
Olmos (3-14) tossed six innings in a losing effort and has now given up 12 earned runs in three starts, 14.2 innings, against the Miracle this season. Matt Hauser earned his fifth save with a scoreless final three innings.
Fort Myers (54-67, 20-31) will finish a three game set with the Jupiter Hammerheads (51-71, 19-33) on Thursday at Hammond Stadium. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. Listen to every pitch and play on www.miraclebaseball.com with the 'Voice of the Miracle' Alex Margulies and Brice Zimmerman. The pregame show begins at 6:45 p.m.