Rooker HR and English Walk-Off Provide DH Sweep

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 11, 2017) - The Fort Myers Miracle (30-18) swept a doubleheader against the Dunedin Blue Jays (28-20) on Friday night with a 6-4 win in Game One and 1-0 walk-off victory in Game Two. Brent Rooker homered for the third time in the past week in Game One, and a Tanner English sacrifice fly sealed the second game in the seventh.
GAME ONE: Fort Myers Exploded for five runs in the bottom of the first inning against RHP Josh DeGraaf (L, 6-2). With the bases loaded, Zander Wiel bounced a ball to third that kicked off the glove of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and dribbled into left scoring the first two runs. Rooker then came to the plate with two on and jolted a ball out to right-center, his fifth FSL home run to give the Miracle a 5-0 lead.
The Blue Jays clawed back into in, putting runners in position to tie the game throughout, but RHP Randy LeBlanc stayed the course over his 4.2 innings start. Dunedin plated two in the fourth with RBI-singles from Michael De La Cruz and Jake Thomas. After Fort Myers got one back on a wild pitch, the Jays grabbed two more in the fifth with a DJ Davis two-RBI single.
In a 6-4 game in the sixth, the Blue Jays put the go-ahead run at the plate against LHP Anthony McIver (W, 5-2), but Connor Panas grounded out softly back to the pitcher to end the threat. In the seventh, De La Cruz flied out to left where Rooker made a great diving play to end the game.
GAME TWO: RHP Sean Poppen and RHP Conor Fisk (L, 7-10) battled with each other to keep the second game scoreless through to the bottom of the last inning. Poppen did not allow a hit until the sixth, while Fisk took a tough luck complete game loss.
The Miracle saw scoring opportunities in the first three innings with runners in scoring position, but failed to get a run across. Later on, it was Dunedin who had their chances, but could not pick up the big hit to take the lead.
In the top of the seventh, the Blue Jays had runners at second and third with no one out, but LHP Andrew Vasquez (W, 2-0) induced a soft ground ball off the bat of Juan Kelly, struck out Davis and got Josh Almonte to ground out to third.
The walk-off for English came with the bases loaded, one out, in the bottom of the inning. Jaylin Davis and Nelson Molina had singled before Shane Kennedy was intentionally walked to load the bases. English sent a ball deep enough to centerfield for Davis to tag and score the winning run.
The teams play at 6:05 PM on Saturday with RHP Eddie Del Rosario against LHP Tayler Saucedo.
To stay up to date on upcoming promotional nights, follow the Miracle online at Miraclebaseball.com or through social media; Twitter: @MiracleBaseball, Instagram: fortmyersmiracle, Facebook: Fort Myers Miracle, Snapchat: ftmyersmiracle. To purchase tickets, visit MiracleBaseball.com/tickets. For further information or questions regarding the 2017 25^th Anniversary Season, call the Miracle offices at (239) 768-4210.