Lakeland Flying Tigers Defeat Fort Myers Miracle 7-6 - FSL

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - LAKELAND, F.L. (July 6, 2008) – The Lakeland Flying Tigers put the Fort Myers Miracle in an early hole on Sunday night en route to a 7-6 victory at Joker Marchant Stadium. The Miracle were able to tie things late in the game, but would surrender the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

Lakeland wasted little time in putting the Miracle in a deep deficit with a four-run bottom of the first. Carmelo Jaime led off with a single up the middle, moved to second on Louis Ott’s walk and scored on James Skelton’s single to right. After Ryan Strieby’s walk re-loaded the bases, Brennan Boesch delivered a two-run single to right, along with a sacrifice-fly from Justin Justice, to complete the inning.

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Three runs in the fourth inning brought the Miracle right back, making things interesting the rest of the way. After a lead-off walk to Yangervis Solarte and base hit by Danny Berg, Danny Santiestiban collected the only RBI in the inning with his single to right, putting the Miracle on the board at 4-1. A dropped fly ball and double play helped the Miracle score their other pair of runs in the fourth.

Brandon Timm would walk a half-inning later for Lakeland, steal second and later race home on a wild pitch by starter Deolis Guerra. Again, the Miracle responded a half-inning later as Juan Portes belted his seventh home run of the season, bringing the Miracle back to within one at 5-4.

The back-and-forth contest continued as the Flying Tigers went back up by a pair on a bases loaded walk by Skelton in the sixth. Down by two, the Miracle were finally able to tie things up with a couple of runs in the eighth. A one-out single by Danny Lehmann and back-to-back walks by Garrett Olson and Steve Singleton loaded the bases for Edward Ovalle . Ovalle then plunked a single into right, plating Lehmann , for a 6-5 game. Wilson Ramos came through with a sacrifice-fly to center scoring Olson with the game-tying run.

Lakeland would tally the eventual game-winner an inning later in the eighth as Timm again started the frame with a base hit to left. After a sac-bunt by Jaime pushed him to second, a deep fly ball to center by Ott and infield-single by Skelton would bring him in with the decisive run. Both teams issued eight walks on the night with Lakeland scoring on four of those occasions compared to just two for the Miracle.