Olivar Stays Hot as Mussels Tame Threshers 7-4

CLEARWATER, Fla. (August 31, 2023) – Ricardo Olivar finished 3-for-4 with a walk, double, triple and 2 RBI to lead the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels to a 7-4 win and a five-game winning streak at BayCare Ballpark Thursday.

Olivar stayed hot despite a three-day break due to Hurricane Idalia. Over his last two games, he’s 5-for-9 with three-extra base hits and four RBI. He finished the month of August with a .321/.433/.444 line, driving in 13 runs.

Mussels’ starter Jack Noble (1-2) notched his first Low-A win Thursday, spinning six innings while allowing three runs on just three hits. Noble had a stretch in which he retired 14 out of 15 batters.

Fort Myers (62-59, 28-27) wasted little time jumping in front Thursday. With one out in the top of the first, Walker Jenkins lined a double to left center. Olivar then blasted a double off the left field wall to give the Mussels a 1-0 lead. After Danny De Andrade singled to move Olivar to third, Rubel Cespedes extended the lead with a sacrifice fly to right center.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first, Clearwater (75-45, 31-24) got the first two runners on with a walk and hit by pitch. The next batter was Zach Arnold, who plated a run with a fielder’s choice. After two more walks, William Bergolla tied the game with an RBI fielder’s choice to second.

Both starting pitchers settled in, trading zeroes over the next three innings before the Mussels took a 3-2 lead on four walks in the top of the fifth.

Still up by that margin in the top of the sixth, Alec Sayre lifted a solo home run to right to make it 4-2. With two outs, Jay Harry singled up the middle before Jenkins dropped a base hit into center. The next batter was Olivar, who grounded a single to right to score Harry and extend the lead to 5-2. Threshers’ pitcher Danny Wilkinson then inadvertently flipped the baseball to the dugout to allow Jenkins to score and make it 6-2. De Andrade capped the inning with an infield base hit, extending the Fort Myers lead to 7-2.

Clearwater pulled to within 7-3 on a Raylin Heredia sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth, but Noble got Bergolla to fly out to complete six quality innings.

Twins’ 13^th round pick Jeremy Lee made his Single-A debut in relief, tossing two scoreless innings while fanning a pair.

Ryan Leitch hit a homer in the ninth to make it 7-4, but Zach Veen closed out the Mussels’ win.

The Mussels and Threshers will play a doubleheader at 4 p.m. on Friday. RHP Miguelangel Boadas will pitch Game 1, while John Klein will take a 12-inning scoreless streak into Game 2. Coverage begins at 4:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.