Miracle closer to first in West

Fort Myers tops Dunedin with 9th-inning run

By SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

The Fort Myers Miracle scored a run in the bottom of the ninth inning Saturday night at the Lee County Sports Complex to defeat the Dunedin Blue Jays 4-3 and pull within 1 1/2 games of first place in the Florida State League West Division.

With the game tied at 3 in the ninth, Angelo Fermin led off with a walk. Ron Perodin laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Blue Jays pitcher Brian Reed's throw was too high, allowing Perodin to reach.

Matt Tolbert then walked to load the bases. Luke Hughes' ground ball led to a force play at the plate, but Trent Oeltjen followed with a single to right to bring in Perodin with the winning run.

Oeltjen went 4-for-5 with a double and three RBI on the night.

Dunedin took the lead in the third when with two outs Adam Lind hit a sinking liner to left that got past Oeltjen for a double. Robinson Diaz followed with a single to center to drive in Lind.

Fort Myers took the lead in the bottom of the inning when Perodin bunted for a single. With Tolbert at first and two outs, Hughes reached on an error. Oeltjen doubled both runners home to make it 2-1.

Jose Leger doubled in Kyle Geiger in the fourth to make it 3-1.

The Blue Jays tied it at 3 in the fifth. Robinson Diaz and Vito Chiaravalloti had RBI singles in the inning.

Fort Myers starter Justin Jones went 4 2/3 innings, giving up all three Dunedin runs on six hits and four walks. He struck out five.

Josh Gray pitched 2 1/3 hitless innings, walking one and striking out two. Julio DePaula (3-3) got the victory, going the final two innings allowing two hits while walking one and striking out one.

Perodin was 3-for-3 with a run scored.

The teams play at 1:05 today at the sports complex.