Miracle top Tigers 7-4 on 13 Ks

Special to the Cape Coral Daily Breeze

After starting the season 0-4, the Fort Myers Miracle have bounced back to win six of their last eight games, including Wednesday night’s 7-4 victory over the Lakeland Tigers at Hammond Stadium.

The Miracle now have won their third straight series thanks to Miracle pitchers recording 13 strikeouts. In the three-game series, Lakeland hitters fanned a total of 33 times.

With two outs in the first, Miracle left fielder Erik Lis sent a routine fly ball to center, but Tiger center fielder Ovandy Suero dropped what would have been the third out, allowing Juan Portes to score from first. The Miracle added another run in the second on a RBI single by Steve Tolleson, scoring Matt Betsill from second.

The Miracle run in the third came off Caleb Moore’s sacrifice-fly to right scoring Edward Ovalle, who led off the inning with a triple.

Lakeland knotted the game 3-3 in the sixth, but the Miracle regained the advantage starting with back-to-back-to-back singles from Lis, Jeff Christy and Ovalle (4-for-4). Lis scored on a fielder’s choice while Christy scored on the first of two wild pitches on the night.

The Miracle (6-6) added two insurance runs in the eighth, one on Ovalle’s RBI single and the other as Christy crossed the plate on the second wild pitch.

Christy, along with Tolleson, finished the night with a pair of hits. Dwayne White extended his hitting streak to eight games with a single in the seventh.

The Miracle head out on the road for a three-game series with the Tampa Yankees starting Thursday night.