Clearwater Threshers Flip a 5-0 Hole Into a 6-5 Win Over the Mussels

Clearwater saves the good stuff for the seventh

There are sensible reasons to leave a ballgame early. This was a lousy night to test any of them.

The Clearwater Threshers trailed the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 5-0, had spent six innings doing very little with the bats, and looked headed for a quiet exit at BayCare Ballpark. Then they scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh and walked away with a 6-5 win.

Not a little late-inning cosmetic work. Not a respectable loss. The whole game, stolen back before Fort Myers could get comfortable with the paperwork.

For Pinellas fans watching around Clearwater, St. Pete, Dunedin or the beaches, this was a useful reminder: the postgame conversation can wait until there’s actually a postgame. Same goes for the tailgate crowd tempted to make an early return to the parking lot. Baseball occasionally rewards stubbornness. Clearwater paid out nicely.

From cruise control to a blown lead

Fort Myers did the early damage with power. Colby Turner hit a solo home run in the second inning, and Jimmy Keenan added a two-run homer as the Mussels built a 3-0 lead.

The fifth brought a less glamorous but equally effective route to the scoreboard. Isaiah Lane’s walk brought home Ricardo Paez, and Turner was hit by a pitch to score Merphy Hernandez. Fort Myers led 5-0. Clearwater was supplying the venue; the Mussels were supplying the offense.

Then the seventh arrived, and the Threshers stopped being such accommodating hosts.

Reece Moroney singled to center to score Jack Hopko. Matthew Ferrara followed with a line-drive single to center, bringing Victor Cardoza home and cutting the deficit to 5-2. Progress, certainly. Still plenty of work left.

Cade Climie handled a large chunk of it. His single to right scored Moroney and Ferrara, shrinking the Mussels’ lead to 5-4. Suddenly, an evening that had looked comfortably settled was anything but.

Hopko then singled to center, scoring Climie to tie it 5-5. Clearwater pushed across another run to take the lead, finishing the inning’s transformation from five-run hole to 6-5 advantage.

That lead held. Fort Myers had brought the home runs; Clearwater found the timely singles. The latter made for a much better ride home.

Ferrara earns his mention

Matthew Ferrara finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, putting him squarely in the middle of the comeback rather than somewhere near the celebration afterward.

His seventh-inning single drove in Cardoza. Then Ferrara came around on Climie’s hit. Drive one in, come home yourself: a tidy contribution to an inning that needed every run it could get.

This wasn’t a rally built around a single enormous swing. Moroney, Ferrara, Climie and Hopko kept finding grass, and the scoreboard kept getting less pleasant for Fort Myers. There’s nothing especially mysterious about timely hitting. There is, however, something deeply entertaining about watching it ruin an opponent’s evening.

Worth sticking around for

No need to turn this into a prediction about the rest of the season. The game itself did enough talking. Clearwater erased a 5-0 deficit in one inning and finished with the win. That’s plenty to carry into the next baseball argument around Pinellas.

The Threshers continue their homestand. Check the team schedule, dig into the full game log, or catch more Clearwater Threshers coverage.

And if you’re heading out to BayCare Ballpark, consider keeping the departure plans flexible.

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