Miracle Fail in Extra Innings Again 6-5 in 12 to Tigers

By Sean Aronson
Fort Myers Miracle

LAKELAND, FL – Apparently going extra innings doesn’t sit well with the Fort Myers Miracle. It wasn’t quite 20 innings, but the Miracle lost 6-5 in 12 to the Lakeland Tigers on Friday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Miracle collected just two hits from the fifth inning on, both singles by Trevor Plouffe, one in the fifth and one in the seventh. They loaded the bases without a hit in the 12th, but Kyle Geiger and Jeremy Pickrel struck out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 12th, Alexander Farfan walked the first two hitters he faced. Nick McIntyre then advanced to third on an errant throw down to second by Geiger. Farfan looked like he was going to walk the tightrope when he struck out Chris Robinson and Clete Thoma, but Gilberto Mejia lined a single into left center to drive home the game winner.

The Miracle jumped out to a 4-0 lead on a solo homer from Pickrel in the second, his first of the season, and a three run third. Deacon Burns had an RBI double and Garrett Guzman an RBI single as part of the three run inning.

The Tigers answered with two in the bottom of the third on Mejia’s RBI double and a throwing error by John Thomas.

The Miracle scored their final run in the fourth on an RBI triple by Alexi Casilla. The Miracle, however, would go scoreless the remaining eight innings.

The Tigers scored a run in the fourth through the sixth. A double play ground out in the fourth by Brent Dlugach, an RBI single by Jeff Frazier in the fifth and an RBI single by Dlugach in the sixth tied the game.

The Tigers nearly won it in the 11th when they had first and second and nobody out, but Farfan got Frazier on strikes and got Jeff Larish and Wilkin Ramirez to fly out to right.

The same two teams meet Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. at Joker Marchant Stadium in the finale of the three game series. The Miracle send RHP Matt Garza (2-0, 0.77) to the hill against Tiger RHP Dallas Trahern (1-2, 5.79).