Miracle Need Extra Innings to Defeat Manatees 5-4 in 10

By Sean Aronson
Fort Myers Miracle

FORT MYERS, FL – Thursday night’s game between the Fort Myers Miracle and the Brevard County Manatees had everything: a milestone home run, two collisions at the plate, extra innings and a dramatic ending and it was the Miracle who came out with a 5-4 victory in 10 innings at Hammond Stadium.

With the score tied at four in the bottom of the 10th, Trevor Plouffe led off with a high chopper to second. Hernan Iribarren had the ball squirt out of his glove and Plouffe reached on the error. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Korey Feiner and then Miracle manager Kevin Boles went to his bench for his leading RBI man, left-handed hitting Garrett Guzman. The Manatees countered with their lefty reliever Jeremy Lewis. Guzman, who was hitting .308 against lefties and .400 with runners in scoring position, drove a 2-2 pitch into the right-center field gap for the game winning double.

The Manatees jumped out to the early 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. Steve Sollman reached on a fielders choice and Brendan Katin followed with a single to center. Ryan Braun battled Miracle starter Anthony Swarzak, fouling pitch after pitch off and then finally hit a three run homer over the left field wall, his sixth of the season.

The Miracle, who improved to a season high seven games over .500 at 27-20, would strike in the bottom of the inning on a momentous homer. With one out Justin Arneson reached on a throwing error by Braun. Alexi Casilla followed with a single to center and Matt Tolbert walked to load the bases. One out later Kevin West ripped a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for his 100th career minor league home run, a grand slam, that gave the Miracle a 4-3 lead.

The Miracle nearly got an insurance run in the seventh when Luke Hughes led off with a single, moved to second on a ground out and stole third. With the Manatee infield in, Feiner hit a grounder to second which Iribarren fired to the plate and Hughes tried to run over catcher C.J. Medlin, but he hung onto the ball for the out.

The Miracle held onto that lead until the eighth when Iribarren led off with a double off of reliever Tim Lahey. He moved to third on a ground out and then Katin, a Fort Myers High graduate singled him home to tie the game at four.

The Manatees had a chance to take the lead in the ninth inning. Freddy Parejo led off with an infield single and Hasan Rasheed followed with a walk. Scott McKnight sacrificed the runners over. With the Miracle infield in Charlie Fermaint hit a slow shopper to second. Casilla threw the ball to the plate where Parejo barreled over Feiner, who dropped the ball. Parejo, however, never touched home plate. Feiner picked up the ball and tagged Parejo about 10 feet away from the plate towards the Manatees dugout. Lahey got out of the inning with a strike out of Iribarren.

The same two teams meet Friday night for the finale of the four game series at 7:05 p.m. The Miracle send RHP Kevin Slowey (2-1, 1.33) to the hill against Manatees LHP Steve Hammond (4-2, 3.29). It is Happy Hour Friday with free hot dogs and chips and salsa and dollar drinks from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m. presented by Budweiser Select, Shoeless Joes’s Sports Café and WXKB 103.9. There will also be a post game fireworks show sponsored by Coors Light, WWGR and WJGO. The game can be heard live on 91.5 Kingdom FM.