Dunedin's win ends Miracle playoff shot

By Special to The News-Press

SARASOTA — The Fort Myers Miracle got the bad news in the ninth inning Friday night.

The Dunedin Blue Jays had beaten Clearwater, officially eliminating the Miracle from any chance of making the Florida State League playoffs.

Fort Myers did done its part Friday night to stay alive, rolling to an 8-1 victory against the Sarasota Reds.

The Miracle played like their playoff lives depended on it. Matt Tolbert doubled to lead off the game and extend his hitting streak to 10 contests. He moved to third on a grounder and scored on a wild pitch to give the Miracle a 1-0 lead.

In the second inning, Andrew Thompson singled to right and scored on Allen de San Miguel's double.

Justin Jones did the rest for the Miracle. He went seven innings, allowing one run on five hits while walking one and striking out four.

The only blemish came in the fifth. He gave up a leadoff single to Jeff Urgelles. One out later, Rafael Motooka singled to left, moving Urgelles to third. With two outs, Phillip Gentry's infield single scored Urgelles to make it 2-1.

Jones allowed just one run in 19 1/3 innings against the Reds this season.

The Miracle put the game out of reach with single runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth, and added three in the ninth.

Kyle Geiger led off the sixth with a single to center to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. He went to second on a balk and moved to third on Mark Zamojc's single. Geiger scored on Jose Leger's single.

Geiger had an RBI double in the seventh inning and Andrew Thompson collected his first RBI as a Miracle with a double that scored Leger in the eighth.

Geiger and Leger each went 3-for-5, with an RBI and two runs scored.

The Miracle will finish their season with two games at home. The first will be at 7 tonight against the Reds.