Flying Tigers Claim Rain-Shortened Game 5-2

LAKELAND, Fla. (September 3, 2024) – The Lakeland Flying Tigers claimed the first game of a critical six-game series Tuesday, winning 5-2 over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels in six innings at Joker Marchant Stadium.

The Flying Tigers (77-48, 35-25) are now 0.5 games behind the Mighty Mussels (64-56, 33-22) in the standings, and remainder of the series acts as a traditional best-of-five series to determine the Second Half FSL West Champion.

Despite the loss, the Mussels saw a bit of history Tuesday. Trailing 3-0 in the top of the fourth, Brandon Winokur connected on his 14^th homer of the season. The dinger makes Winokur the first Fort Myers hitter since 2014 to hit 14 in a season. The blast left his bat at 111 mph and traveled 441 feet.

The only other Mussels’ run came in the top of the sixth. Caden Kendle led off with an infield single before Kyle DeBarge flew out to right. After a pitching change, Winokur walked. The next batter was Khadim Diaw, who singled to load the bases. Jaime Ferrer followed with an RBI fielder’s choice to cut the deficit to 5-2.

As the Mussels warmed up for the bottom of the sixth, torrential rain hit Lakeland, making the field unplayable for the remainder of the night.

The Flying Tigers jumped in front early against Fort Myers’ starter Cesar Lares (3-4). In a scoreless game in the bottom of the second, Jose De La Cruz was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Jack Penney laced a double to the left center field wall to make it 1-0. Samuel Gil then reached on a throwing error from Nick Lucky, making the margin 2-0.

Still up by that margin in the third, Zach MacDonald doubled to start the frame. After advancing to third on a groundout, Josue Briceno smoked a single to right to extend the lead to 3-0.

After Lares walked back-to-back hitters in a 3-1 game the fourth, a balk brought in a run to make it 4-1. The next batter was MacDonald, who doubled to right center to extend the Lakeland advantage to 5-1.

Lakeland lefty Gabriel Reyes (4-2) was excellent, fanning seven while allowing just four hits over 5.1 innings of two-run ball.

The Mussels will turn to right-hander Charlee Soto (1-6, 5.04) at 6:30 p.m. RHP Zack Lee (3-4, 3.28) will go for the Flying Tigers. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.