Clearwater Threshers Out-Slug Mussels 12-10; Caden Bogenpohl Goes Yard in Wild Win

Clearwater brought the bats. Good thing, too.

The Clearwater Threshers beat the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 12-10, which is the cleanest possible way to describe a game that refused to behave.

Clearwater piled up 16 hits, built a 12-4 lead and still wound up with Fort Myers close enough to make comfort a bad idea. This wasn’t a pitching duel. It was a scoreboard asking for a breather.

For Pinellas fans following along from Clearwater, St. Pete, Dunedin or the beaches, this was prime bar-stool material: plenty to cheer, plenty to question, and absolutely no reason to declare the thing over early. Carry that lesson into the next tailgate. Baseball does not respect your plans to relax.

The Threshers got the win. The easy evening went unclaimed.

Trading punches, then clearing the table

Caden Bogenpohl started Clearwater’s scoring in the first with a single that brought home Matthew Ferrara. In the second, Will Vierling doubled in Reece Moroney, then scored on Ferrara’s single. Just like that, the Threshers led 3-0.

Nice start. Brief shelf life.

Fort Myers answered in the bottom of the second with Yovanny Duran’s sacrifice fly and Vahn Lackey’s two-run triple, tying it 3-3. Moroney’s RBI double nudged Clearwater ahead in the third, but Isaiah Lane’s triple helped the Mussels pull level again. After three, it was 4-4. Nobody was getting much mileage out of a lead.

Ferrara’s sacrifice fly in the fourth put Clearwater back ahead, 5-4. Then came the fifth, when the Threshers finally stopped negotiating.

Clearwater scored seven runs in the inning. Matt Quintanar singled home Will Gasparino, and Vierling delivered a double that scored Nolan Beltran and Moroney. Those were key blows in the surge that left the Threshers ahead 12-4.

That inning won the argument. It just didn’t end the conversation.

Fort Myers scored two in the fifth, three in the seventh and another in the eighth. What had looked like a generous cushion became something Clearwater needed almost in full. Calling this a cruise would be an insult to boats.

The distinction matters: the Threshers didn’t win because the Mussels went quietly. They won because their biggest inning gave them enough room to survive a comeback that kept getting less funny.

Bogenpohl supplied the headline

Bogenpohl finished 4-for-5 with a home run, four RBI and a run scored. In a game crowded with offense, that’s how you keep your name at the top of the discussion.

His first-inning single got Clearwater moving, and his solo homer belonged on a night when the bats carried the workload. No need to turn the performance into a prediction about his future. The actual line does plenty of talking.

Vierling deserved his share of the conversation, too. His second-inning double helped establish the early lead, and his fifth-inning double drove in two during the decisive outburst. Ferrara contributed run-scoring contact in the first half of the game, while Moroney helped keep Clearwater’s offense moving.

Bogenpohl was the headliner, but this wasn’t a solo act. When the other club scores 10, a supporting cast is less a luxury than a requirement.

The Threshers continue their series against the Mighty Mussels. Check the Clearwater schedule for game times and broadcast information. After this one, perhaps keep the victory speech handy—but unfinished.

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