Vierling’s Two Homers Power Clearwater Threshers Through Wild 13-9 Win Over Mussels

Clearwater brought the bats. Good thing, too.

If your Friday night called for relaxing baseball, the Clearwater Threshers would like to apologize. Actually, scratch that. After a 13-9 win over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, apologies can wait.

This was baseball with the cabinet doors left open: loud, untidy and liable to leave a mark. Clearwater fell behind 5-1, fought its way in front, watched that lead disappear and still had enough offense left to finish the job.

For Pinellas fans watching in Clearwater, talking baseball in St. Pete or following along from Dunedin and the beaches, this was not an evening to announce, “I’ll check the score later.” Later kept changing.

Will Vierling was the main reason the final version looked so good. Two homers. Five RBIs. A night that turned a recap into something resembling his personal batting practice receipt.

The comeback needed a comeback

Fort Myers built its 5-1 advantage through the top of the fourth, including a three-run inning powered by three consecutive RBI singles. Clearwater starter Cole Gilley allowed five earned runs in 3.2 innings. The Threshers needed offense, not a motivational poster.

Macon Winslow supplied the first big answer in the bottom of the fourth, sending a two-run homer to left-center. His second homer of the season trimmed the deficit to 5-3. Vierling followed with a solo shot, his eighth of the year, and suddenly Clearwater was within a run.

That is a much better way to change the conversation than arguing with the scoreboard.

Fort Myers pushed the lead to 6-4 in the seventh. Then Nolan Beltran stepped in with the bases loaded and drove a double to right, clearing them and putting the Threshers ahead 7-6. No slow squeeze back into contention. Just one swing and a completely different problem for the visitors.

Vierling added an RBI single to score Beltran during the rally. Clearwater finished the inning with five runs and a 9-6 lead.

Comfortable? Please. This game had no interest in comfortable.

The Mussels tied it 9-9 in the eighth, making all that seventh-inning work feel briefly like a very elaborate warmup. Clearwater answered with four runs in the bottom half. Vierling’s second homer was part of the finishing push, and this time the lead stuck: 13-9.

The full box score has the damage report.

Vierling gets the last word

Beltran delivered the swing that flipped the seventh. Winslow supplied the homer that made the early deficit manageable. But Vierling gets the headline without needing a recount.

His fourth-inning homer brought Clearwater within one. His seventh-inning single helped build the lead. His eighth-inning homer helped settle an argument Fort Myers refused to drop. That is production spread across the moments when the Threshers actually needed it.

Nobody should confuse this with a pitching clinic. The better takeaway is simpler: Clearwater had to keep hitting, and it did. That is plenty for the postgame conversation, whether it happens around a Clearwater tailgate or back toward the beaches.

The Threshers continue the series against the Mighty Mussels this weekend. Check the official schedule for tickets and times.

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