Miracle defeat bumbling Cardinals

By SPECIAL TO THE NEWS-PRESS

JUPITER -- The Fort Myers Miracle took advantage of four Palm Beach errors over the final two innings en route to a 5-1, Florida State League victory over the Cardinals on Sunday at Roger Dean Stadium.

Trailing 1-0 in the top of the eighth inning, the Miracle began their rally when Denard Span slapped a ground ball to second base. An errant throw to first allowed Span to reach on an error.

Another errant throw from the catcher to first on a Trent Oeltjen bunt allowed Oeltjen to scoot to second and advance Span to third.

Matt Moses followed with a fly ball to right that was dropped, and Span scored to tie the game.

Brock Peterson's sacrifice fly scored Oeltjen and gave the Miracle a 2-1 lead.

Fort Myers added three runs in the ninth on Ron Perodin's RBI single and Oeltjen's RBI double. It scored its third run when Oeltjen came in on a grounder to shortstop by Moses that was bobbled.

Miracle starter Nick Blackburn collected his fourth victory of the season, allowing one run on four hits while striking out three over seven innings.

Tristan Crawford pitched the final two innings to collect his second save.

The Cardinals will play host to the Miracle in the finale of the four-game series at 7:05 tonight. The Miracle will return to the Lee County Sports Complex to host St. Lucie at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday.