Charlotte Stone Crabs celebrate Independence Day with 9-2 win over Fort Myers

The Game: The post game fireworks show was not the only thing exploding in front of the record crowd of 7,340 at Charlotte Sports Park, the explosive offense of the Charlotte Stone Crabs put nine runs on the scoreboard enroute to a 9-2 victory over the Fort Myers Miracle on Saturday night.

The Stone Crabs celebrated Independence Day by wearing special edition red, white and blue uniforms and wasted no time getting things going by putting three runs on the board n the second inning. Ryan Royster got things started with a single to center and then advanced to second on a balk by Fort Myers pitcher Steve Hirschfeld. Reid Fronk drew a walk. Royster was eliminated on a force out at third on the following play as Ian Paxton grounded into a force out, but the Stone Crabs still had runners at first and second. Omar Luna followed with a single to right to score Fronk. Matt Hall singled home Luna and then later scored on an RBI single by Shawn O’Malley to give the Stone Crabs a 3-0 lead.

Fort Myers battled back in the fourth by posting two runs. The first was on an RBI double by Evan Bigley that scored Chris Parmelee. The second came on a fielding error by Henry Wrigley that allowed Evan Bigley to score.

The Stone Crabs answered in the bottom of the inning by adding five more runs to their total. The Stone Crabs were aided by three hit batters in the inning. Shawn O’Malley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to allow Reid Fronk to score. Then Emeel Salem followed with a two run single that scored Ian Paxton and Omar Luna. Henry Wrigley delivered a sacrifice fly to score Shawn O’Malley. And its was a bunt single by Ryan Royster to score Emeel Salem for the fifth run of the inning to give the Stone Crabs an 8-2 lead.

The Stone Crabs picked up another run in the sixth innings off an RBI single by Ryan Royster to score Emeel Salem and give the Stone Crabs the 9-2 margin of victory.

David Newmann was the winner pitching 5 innings and allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits while walking 3. Jose Mejias picked up a save by pitching 4 shut-out innings giving up 2 hits and walking 2. Steve Hirschfeld was the losing pitcher for Fort Myers.

What Went Right: The offense; posting 9 runs on 11 hits. Ryan Royster; 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s.

What Went Wrong: Not much goes wrong in a 9-2 win over the division leader.

A Look Ahead: The Stone Crabs begin a three game series against the Sarasota Reds at Charlotte Sports Park on Sunday.