L-Tigers Capture Thriller

Lakeland closes to within a half-game of Fort Myers and Dunedin in torrid first-half race.

By DAVID YATES
Lakeland Ledger

LAKELAND -- If the Florida State League All-Star game at Joker Marchant Stadium next Saturday is even half as exciting as Lakeland's battle with Fort Myers Saturday night, fans are in for quite a show.

The L-Tigers won a 5-4 edge-of-your seat extra-inning thriller that muddled the West Division pennant race even further.

Lakeland (33-28) now trails both the Miracle (34-28) and the Blue Jays (34-28) by just a half-game with eight games remaining in the first half. Tampa beat Dunedin, 10-8 Saturday night.

Clete Thomas walked to lead off the 10th and came around to score the game-winner on a balk, an intentional walk to Jeff Larish, and two Fort Myers errors on an ill-fated attempt to pick Thomas off second.

"It was a playoff atmosphere and a heck of a win for us tonight," Lakeland Manager Mike Rojas said from a jubilant Lakeland clubhouse.

"You've got to tip your hat to both teams because those guys came back from being down 4-0 and our players battled just as hard."

All-Star right-hander Jair Jurrjens was staked to an early lead when Nick McIntyre sparked a four-run second-inning rally with a two-run homer to right.

But the Miracle shaved that lead to one run by scoring three in the seventh and tied it on Matt Tolbert's two-out RBI single in the ninth.