Lis helps Miracle grab 5-4 win

Special to the Cape Coral Daily Breeze

Educational day at Hammond Stadium saw Erik Lis give the Clearwater Threshers a hitting lesson.

Lis went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles to help spark the Fort Myers Miracle to a 5-4 victory Wednesday, salvaging the final game of a three-game series with the Threshers.

The day game featured Education Day I at the ball park with 2,323 screaming schoolchildren on hand.

Starting things off early, the Miracle tallied two runs in the second inning. Steve Tolleson delivered a one-out single to right to score Javi Sanchez, who led off the inning with a walk. Dwayne White followed with a groundout to first on which Toby Gardenhire scored from third base.

The Threshers (11-8) responded with a pair of runs of their own in the third. Jeremy Slayden connected on a two-run single to center to bring home Matt Thayer and Greg Golson. Thayer drew a one-out walk while Golson reached base on a double to left.

A three-run fifth gave the Miracle (9-9) the lead for good. White, who led off with a single to center, scored on the first of Lis’ two doubles on the afternoon, giving the Miracle a 3-2 lead. Edward Ovalle traded places with Lis at second base with his own RBI-double then scored on a Thresher fielding error by shortstop Fidel Hernandez.

Clearwater scored runs in the fifth and sixth innings, cutting the margin to one run. Welinson Baez slapped a two-out, RBI-single to right to score Thayer in the fifth. A couple of Miracle errors led to Clearwater’s run in the sixth.

Hernandez reached on Tolleson’s throwing error and later scored as Thayer reached on a fielding error by Lis at first base to keep the inning alive.

Miracle relievers Frank Mata and Eddie Morlan shut the door on the Threshers over the final three innings. Mata tossed two perfect innings with one strikeout, picking up his second win of the year. Morlan registered his third save of the season, allowing no runs on a couple of hits in the ninth.

The Miracle now embark on a seven-game, six-day road trip beginning with a four-game series in Dunedin. The Miracle and Blue Jays play a doubleheader at 5 p.m. Thursday.