Clearwater Threshers Flip a 6-1 Hole Into an 11-6 Win Over Flying Tigers

Threshers turn a Lakeland slugfest upside down

A 6-1 deficit is usually when somebody watching the game starts suggesting other things to watch. The Clearwater Threshers offered a better idea Wednesday night: leave it on.

Clearwater stormed back to beat the Lakeland Flying Tigers 11-6, turning an ugly start into a very satisfying road win. Four runs in the fifth got the Threshers back within reach. Five in the sixth took the game out of Lakeland’s hands. An insurance run in the seventh finished the scoring, because apparently the comeback needed a receipt.

For Pinellas fans following along in Clearwater, catching the game around St Pete or Dunedin, or checking the score after a beach day, this was a reminder not to let an early deficit make your evening plans. The Flying Tigers had a comfortable lead. Comfort, as it turned out, was their problem.

The hole was real. So was the response.

Clearwater got the first break. Will Gasparino scored in the opening inning on a throwing error by Lakeland pitcher Carlos Rodriguez, putting the Threshers ahead 1-0.

Then Lakeland took over. A sacrifice fly tied it in the second. In the third, Michael Oliveto singled home a run before Zach MacDonald hit a three-run homer, his 22nd of the season. Just like that, Clearwater trailed 5-1. Jack Goodman’s ground-rule double brought home another run in the fourth, stretching the lead to 6-1.

That is a proper hole, not the sort you fix with a pep talk and a determined jaw.

The Threshers needed baserunners, contact and a little help. In the fifth, they got enough of all three. Jack Hopko singled, and a costly fielding error by Goodman allowed Cade Climie and Hopko to score. Clearwater put up four runs in the inning, cutting the deficit to 6-5.

No need to dress that up as destiny. Lakeland left the door open, and Clearwater did what a good comeback requires: kept walking through it.

The sixth supplied the lead change. Climie singled home Nolan Beltran to tie the game at 6-6. Hopko followed with a single that scored Matt Quintanar, putting the Threshers ahead 7-6.

Clearwater wasn’t finished. The inning became a five-run rally, leaving Lakeland down 10-6 and probably missing the part of the evening when this all seemed manageable. Another Clearwater run in the seventh made it 11-6.

Hopko earns the bar-stool vote

Jack Hopko gets the nod here: 3-for-4, two runs scored and one RBI. More important than the tidy line was where his hits landed in the story.

His fifth-inning single helped fuel the rally that made this a game again. His sixth-inning single brought home the go-ahead run. That is useful work in any ballpark, and especially useful when your team has spent the early innings chasing the scoreboard.

MacDonald supplied Lakeland’s loudest swing with his three-run homer. Hopko supplied Clearwater with repeated trouble. The home run got the early attention; the singles helped take the win home.

This is the kind of game worth arguing over at the next Clearwater tailgate: the big swing that built the lead, or the steady traffic that erased it? Wednesday’s final score settles that one nicely.

Keep the comeback, skip the grand declarations

One win doesn’t need to become a manifesto about character. This one has plenty going for it without the inspirational poster.

Clearwater fell behind, took advantage of a damaging mistake and kept producing after the game was tied. That last part matters. The Threshers didn’t merely escape the hole; they put Lakeland in one.

The series against the Flying Tigers continues. Check the Threshers schedule for game times and follow our Threshers coverage.

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