St. Lucie Takes Down Fort Myers 8-6

FORT MYERS, Fla. (July 31, 2024) - The St. Lucie Mets won their second consecutive game over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 8-6 despite committing four errors on Wednesday night at Hammond Stadium.

Mussels’ starting pitcher Ross Dunn worked back-to-back scoreless frames to begin the contest but ran into trouble in the third. After two quick outs, Boston Baro singled to right and came around to score one batter later on an RBI triple from AJ Ewing. Ewing would plate the second run of the evening after Ronald Hernandez reached on an error by first baseman Rixon Wingrove, making it 2-0. Fort Myers (50-45, 19-11) committed three errors on the night.

Fort Myers responded in the home half of the inning, capitalizing on four errors by the St. Lucie (11-21, 33-65) defense. Maddux Houghton led off the frame, reaching second after an error from center fielder AJ Ewing. Houghton stole third and would score on a passed ball to cut the deficit in half. Following a Byron Chourio walk, Yohander Martinez reached on a fielding error by St. Lucie shortstop Colin Houck, his first of three errors in the inning. Yasser Mercedes was next into the batter’s box and he reached on a fielder’s choice after another error by Houck, which allowed Chourio to touch home to tie the game.

Angel Del Rosario broke the tie with a sacrifice fly to plate Martinez. The final run of the inning came on an RBI single from Brandon Winokur and Fort Myers took a 4-2 lead after three.

Colin Houck led off the top of the fourth inning with a solo home run to bring St. Lucie within one. After a double by Yonatan Henriquez, Kevin Villavicencio singled to right field, where Houghton misplayed the ball, allowing Henriquez to score and Villavicencio to go to third and tie the game. Vincent Perozo’s sacrifice fly drove in Villavicencio to break the tie and put St. Lucie in front 5-4.

The Mets would pick up another run in the top of the fifth as Hernandez singled and came around to score on a Colin Houck fielder’s choice, extending the lead to 6-4.

The Mussels would battle back again in the home half of the fifth, as starting pitcher Edgar Moreta exited and gave way to Nick Bautista. Bautista issued a leadoff walk to Del Rosario, who went first to third on a single by Poncho Ruiz. An infield single by Winokur plated Del Rosario to cut the deficit to one. Later in the inning, Ruiz tied the game at 6 after scoring on a wild pitch by Bautista.

St. Lucie would take the lead for good in the sixth inning, as Villavicencio singled to begin the inning. He then stole second and moved to third on an infield single from Diego Mosquera. Baro drove in Villavicencio with a sacrifice fly to take a 7-6 lead.

The Mets would add the final run of the night in the eighth and it was Baro again doing the damage, as he drove in Mosquera with a two-out double down the left field line to make it 8-6.

The Mussels will be back in action Thursday at 7:05 p.m. as Fort Myers sends Tanner Hall (2-0, 5.61) to the mound to square off against St. Lucie’s Jorge De Leon (0-1, 8.31). Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.