Miracle win out in marathon vs. Jupiter

By SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

JUPITER — The clock struck midnight as the ball fell softly into the glove of Fort Myers Miracle center fielder Ron Perodin, and nearly five hours after Wednesday's original start time, the Miracle recorded a 6-5 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads in Florida State League action.

The two teams waited through an hour and a half rain delay before starting the ballgame and then proceeded to play nearly three and a half hours of baseball.

The Miracle scored the first four runs of the game. In the second Kyle Phillips walked with one out, went to second on a balk and scored on a two out single by Scott Whitrock.

In the third, Trent Oeltjen walked with two outs, stole second and scored on an RBI double from Brock Peterson. The Miracle tacked on two more in the fourth. Kyle Geiger and Whitrock started with back-to-back singles. After a ground out moved the runners to second and third, Perodin singled to right-center to drive in two.

Jupiter tied the game with four runs in the sixth inning, but the Miracle answered right back in the seventh on a couple of gifts from the Hammerheads. Luke Hughes led off with a single to left. Oeltjen laid down a sacrifice bunt and catcher Greg Brown threw the ball into right field, resulting in runners at second and third. Peterson loaded the bases when he reached on a fielding error by third baseman Lee Mitchell. One out later Geiger singled home two runs.

The same two teams meet at 7:05 tonight. The Miracle send Jay Rainville (2-1, 3.38) to the mound against the Hammerheads' Jay Aguilar (1-0, 5.40).