Lakeland bats fall quiet in 5-0 loss to Fort Myers
The Lakeland Flying Tigers (26-29) were held to five hits and no runs in a 5-0 loss to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (33-23) on Saturday night at Joker Marchant Stadium. Fort Myers began the scoring in the first off starter Caleb Leys. Dameury Pena doubled and moved to third
The Lakeland Flying Tigers (26-29) were held to five hits and no runs in a 5-0 loss to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (33-23) on Saturday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Fort Myers began the scoring in the first off starter Caleb Leys. Dameury Pena doubled and moved to third on a single from Ryan Sprock. Ramiro Rodriguez grounded into a double play, scoring Pena and giving the Mighty Mussels a 1-0 lead.
Fort Myers added two in the fourth off Leys. Jayson Bass singled and Graham Brown crushed a two-run homer to left, pushing the Mighty Mussels advantage to 3-0.
Fort Myers starter Merit Jones turned in a strong start, going 4.0 shutout innings while punching out six and walking one.
The Mighty Mussels tallied two more runs in the sixth off reliever Eliseo Mota. Quentin Young reached on a leadoff walk and Brown singled. Irvin Nunez plated both runners with a double, extending the visitors lead to 5-0.
The Fort Myers bullpen shut down Lakeland the rest of the way, allowing just two hits across the final 5.0 innings.
Reliever Jake Murray (3-1) earned the win, hurling 2.0 shutout innings while allowing one hit and striking out one. Leys (0-3) took the loss, throwing 4.0 innings while allowing three runs on five hits along with striking out three and walking two.
Lakeland looks to cap off the series with a win over Fort Myers on Sunday at 12:00 p.m. Lakeland sends RHP Charlie Christensen (1-0, 1.64) to the hill to face Fort Myers RHP Ramiro Villanueva (0-1, 2.66).