Miracle Win in Final At Bat

FORT MYERS, FL – After the Fort Myers Miracle were crushed 11-1 in a game that was resumed from August 24 on Monday night, the Miracle showed some heart in a 3-2, eight inning victory over the Lakeland Tigers in the regularly scheduled game.

The Miracle pounded out 15 hits, but it was the final one by Kaulana Kuhualua that proved to be the difference. In the bottom of the eighth, Elvis Corporan singled to right. He went to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a bunt single from Jesus Merchan. One out later, the Tigers elected to pitch to Kuhaulua with first base open. He lined a single into right that scored the winning run.

The Miracle trailed 2-0 after the top of the first, but got one back in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single from Danny Matienzo. One inning later they tied it on a lead off double by Merchan and an RBI single by Pattee. Merchan finished the night 3 for 4 with a double and a run scored.

In the resumed game from August 24, the Miracle were plagued by three first innings homers off of Jeff Randazzo and he was touched up for nine runs in three innings. In the first, Victor Mendez hit a two run homer and Brent Clevlen followed that up with a solo shot. Three batters later Chris Maples hit a two run shot to make it 5-0. The game was halted in the top of the second on the 24th, so when it resumed on Monday night it was Randazzo’s turn in the rotation again.

The third inning didn’t fair any better for him. He gave up another four runs. After loading the bases with nobody out, he got a ground ball to force the runner at the plate and then a strike out. Randazzo, however lost command walking three straight batter to force in three runs and then unleashing a wild pitch to score the fourth.

The Miracle scored their only run in the seventh on a lead off double by Doug Deeds. He later scored on an RBI ground out by Ben Pattee.