Mussels Mash Three Home Runs To Win Regular Season Finale 9-4

LAKELAND, Fla. (September 8, 2024) – The Mighty Mussels matched a season high with three home runs as Fort Myers defeated Lakeland 9-4 in the regular season finale at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Mussels (66-59, 35-25) hit three homers in a game for the third time this season and for the second time against the Flying Tigers (80-50, 38-27). Khadim Diaw and Kyle DeBarge both connected on their first professional home runs and Maddux Houghton blasted his fourth of the season. DeBarge totalled a career high four hits while scoring twice and driving in four.

The Mussels manufactured a run in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk to Caden Kendle to go ahead 1-0.

Lakeland answered in the third on a solo homer from David Smith, tying the game 1-1.

Still tied in the fifth, Angel Del Rosario pulled a leadoff triple down the left field line. DeBarge followed with a single up the middle to put Fort Myers back in front 2-1.

The lead was short lived, as Lakeland scored two on a Jackson Strong single in the bottom of the frame to make it 3-2 Flying Tigers.

Trailing in the sixth, Diaw laced a pinch-hit home run deep onto the left field berm for his first professional home run to tie the game 3-3. The home run traveled 400 feet and had an exit velocity of 105.9 mph. After a walk to Nick Lucky, Houghton connected on a two-run homer to lef to make it 5-3.

In the eighth, Lucky and Del Rosario reached on a hit-by-pitch and a walk. DeBarge then crushed a three-run home run to left to extend the lead 8-3. Fort Myers tacked on a run in the ninth on a Jay Thomason double and a Jaime Ferrer RBI single, making it 9-3.

Lakeland got a run back in the ninth on a solo homer from Payton Graham.

Anthony Narvaez led the Fort Myers pitching effort, allowing just one run on three hits over three innings as the starter.

Fort Myers’ finishes the campaign with a 66-59 record and has now had a winning record in all four years under Brian Meyer, and in 11 of the past 12 years overall.

The Mussels 2025 season opens on April 4 in Dunedin, with the home opener set for April 8 against the Fyling Tigers at Hammond Stadium.