Mussels’ Comeback Falls Short in Front of Largest Hammond Stadium Crowd Since 2019

FORT MYERS, Fla. (July 3, 2023) – The Mighty Mussels’ late comeback Monday was put to a halt after the Lakeland Flying Tigers rallied in the ninth inning to win 5-4 in front of a season-high 6,875 fans at Hammond Stadium.

Monday’s attendance was the largest by over 2,600 since before the pandemic, and the biggest in three years of the Mighty Mussels era.

Trailing by three in the bottom of the eighth, Rubel Cespedes and Dylan Neuse walked to lead off the inning. Mikey Perez followed with a screaming liner to the left-center field gap to score both runs and make it a 4-3 game. After Gregory Duran walked and Ricardo Olivar was hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded for Danny De Andrade. On a 3-1 count, he took a fastball off the outside corner four ball four to force in the game’s tying run for Fort Myers (37-38, 3-6).

In top of the ninth, Seth Stephenson reached on an error and advanced to second on a wild pickoff attempt. Both Daniel Cabrera and Andrew Jenkins followed with walks to load the bases for Lakeland (30-44, 4-6). With two outs, Jose De La Cruz lined a single to right to bring home the go-ahead run and cap the scoring at 5-4.

With no score in the top of the first, Stephenson singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch to open the game. With two outs in the frame, Jenkins served a line-drive single to left bring home the run and make it 1-0 Lakeland.

Mussels starter Jose Olivares worked a perfect second inning before the game was delayed for 90 minutes because of rain.

When play resumed, both teams traded scoreless innings up until the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Dillon Tatum reached on an infield single and Kamron Willman walked to place runners on first and second. Two hitters later, De Andrade notched an RBI single to left to tie the game at one.

Still deadlocked in the top of the seventh, Stephenson singled and stole second base with one out. The next batter was Luke Gold, who blooped a single to shallow right that scored Stephenson to give the Tigers a 2-1 advantage. After a walk and single, Mike Rothenberg cracked a double down the right-field line to score two and extend the lead to 4-1.

With the win, the Flying Tigers secure their first series victory since April and snap a skid of nine consecutive series losses.

The Mussels will travel to Jupiter tomorrow where they will begin a six-game series with the Hammerheads. Andrew Morris (2-1, 3.48) will start for Fort Myers against Cole Kirschsieper (6-2, 3.86) for Jupiter. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. ET, with coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.