Tampa falls to Fort Myers in extra inning battle, 10-8

TAMPA, Fla. - The Tampa Tarpons (25-26) dropped a back-and-forth extra inning battle with the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (32-18) Sunday afternoon at GMS Field. Tampa took the lead into the eighth, but some sloppy defense pushed the game to extras, where Fort Myers added three in the tenth inning to take the victory, 10-8. C Josue Gonzalez (1-for-3, 3RBI) had two sacrifice flies while tallying three RBI in the loss.

Fort Myers struck first in the first. Brandon Winokur singled and advanced ninety feet to second on a wild pitch. With Winokur in scoring position, Khadim Diaw doubled to right field, bringing home Winokur for the early lead.

SS Roderick Arias and LF Marshall Toole both drew walks to open the home half of the first. An errant pickoff attempt moved both runners up a base. 3B Hans Montero put the Tarpons ahead with a ground-rule double over the right field side wall.

Gonzalez extended Tampa’s lead in the second. RF Joe Delossantos started the frame with a walk. He moved to second on a wild pitch, stole third base, and then came home on Gonzalez’s SAC-fly.

Angel Del Rosario singled to open the third. He stole second base, and then Winokur hit a line drive past the diving attempt of Delossantos in right field. The ball rolled to the wall as Winokur legged out a triple. Billy Amick brought Winokur home with a SAC-fly to left field, even the game at three.

With two outs in the fifth, Amick launched his second homer of the year just over the left field wall to put Fort Myers ahead by one run.

Toole, CF Willy Montero, and H. Montero all reached to load the bases with no outs in the fifth. After a strikeout and a pitching change, 1B Parks Harber cleared the bases with a three-run, go-ahead double into the right-center field gap. Following a wild pitch, Delossantos drew a free pass and stole second base. Gonzalez lifted his second SAC-fly of the game to left field, extending Tampa’s lead to three.

The Mighty Mussels pulled closer in the sixth. Jaime Ferrer was hit by a pitch, and then Jose Rodriguez smashed a two-run longball to left center to make it a one-run ballgame.

Tampa made a pair of costly errors in the eighth, allowing the Mighty Mussels to tie the game. Jay Thomason reached on a throwing error by H. Montero, and then Kyle DeBarge bounced another grounder to H. Montero at third, but he threw the ball away, allowing Thomason home as the tying run.

As the game rolled into extra innings, Tampa got two quick outs in the tenth before Debarge laced a triple into the right-center gap, bringing home Maddux Houghton, who pinch ran as the extra innings ghost runner, and Thomason, who walked earlier in the frame. The Mighty Mussels reached double digits when Winokur doubled to left field, which also extended their lead to three.

In the bottom of the tenth, Tampa was only able to scratch across one run, courtesy of an RBI single from Gonzalez.

The Tarpons will hit the road and travel to Bradenton to take on the Marauders on Tuesday. First pitch is set for 6:30 PM at LECOM Park.