Robinson's Homer in 7th Lifts L-Tigers

By DAVID YATES
Lakeland Ledger

LAKELAND -- FSL All-Star Chris Robinson belted a dramatic seventh-inning home run as Lakeland rallied past Fort Myers, 4-2, in Florida State League baseball on Friday night.

Robinson brought a Joker Marchant Stadium crowd of 423 to its feet with an opposite-field, first-pitch, two-out, two-run blast off Miracle right-hander Brian Duensing as the L-Tigers tightened up the West Division pennant race with their second straight win over Fort Myers.

"We had all been trying to go the other way against Duensing because we had no success against him early in the game," said Robinson about his gamewinner.

Lakeland (32-28) now trails both the Miracle (34-27) and the Blue Jays (34-27) by 1.5 games with nine games remaining in the first half.

Dunedin lost to Tampa, 2-1, for the second night in a row.

If the L-Tigers do manage to capture the pennant, it will once again be the result of their stunning success against two very good Fort Myers teams.

Dating back to last year, Lakeland has now defeated the Miracle in 19 of the last 26 meetings between the two division rivals.

Fort Myers jumped out ahead in Friday's game, 2-0, on single runs in the first and fifth innings.

But Lakeland tied it up in the bottom of the fifth when Wilkin Ramirez and Clete Thomas singled, Brent Dlugach doubled, and Robinson lofted a sacrifice fly.

The Lakeland bullpen was again superb, with Jeremy Johnson, Freddy Dolsi, and Kevin Whelan allowing just one run over the last seven innings.

Another FSL All-Star, Jair Jurrjens (5-0, 2.01), is expected to oppose Miracle right-hander Anthony Swarzak (3-3, 3.98) in the finale of the three-game series tonight at 7.