Lis homers twice as Miracle win ninth straight

By Special to the Naples Daily News

TAMPA — How does someone follow up their last performance at Legends Field after taking Roger Clemens deep in May? Just ask Erik Lis as he went deep not once, but twice on Tuesday night as the Fort Myers Miracle knocked off the first-place Tampa Yankees by a final score of 8-6. Lis belted a three-run shot in the fifth, followed by a two-run blast in the seventh, helping the Miracle push the winning streak to nine straight games.

The Miracle tallied first on Tuesday with an RBI groundout by Edward Ovalle in the second. After a go-ahead two-run homer by the Yankees’ Andres Perez, and a sacrifice fly from Chris Malec, Tampa would instantly bounce back for a 3-1 lead heading into the fifth.

A five-run, four-hit attack sent the Miracle out to the lead for good in their fifth. Danny Valencia led off with a double to left and would later score on a Jeff Christy single to center. Steve Tolleson would later bring in Ovalle, who walked after Valencia’s two-base hit, with his RBI single to right. Lis then followed with his first of two mammoth blasts to give the Miracle a 6-3 lead.

Malec again would bring another Yankee run a half-inning later, singling in Kevin Russo, slicing the Miracle lead to 6-4. A two-out single by Tolleson kept the Miracle seventh alive, enabling Lis to connect on his two-run bomb to right, for the 8-4 lead. Tuesday marked the second time in eight days that Lis has homered twice in one game.

Tampa would threaten again a half-inning later as Eduardo Nunez and Malec would pick up RBI with a pair of groundouts to bring the Yanks back to within two at 8-6. However, Miracle relievers Danny Powers and Rob Delaney each worked around a Tampa hit in the eighth and ninth innings to preserve the win.

The Miracle improve to 29-23 in the second-half and now trail Tampa by four games heading into Wednesday night’s contest. First pitch is a 7 p.m. as the Miracle send RHP Jeff Manship (6-3, 2.63) to the mound against Yankees RHP George Kontos (4-4, 4.00). The game can be heard locally in Southwest Florida on SportsRadio 770 ESPN, beginning at 7 p.m.