Two days after the unofficial Star Wars day on May the Fourth, the St. Lucie Mets had a Star Wars night of their own on Saturday evening while playing host to the Fort Myers Miracle. The evening included characters from the movies prowling the stands, Star Wars themed games between innings and the soaring music of John Williams’ score playing throughout game.
The Mets started out strong as Justin Dunn climbed the hill and got through the first inning unscathed thanks to a tremendous throw from Jeff Diehl in left to nab a runner trying to score from second to end the top of the inning. In the bottom of the frame three straight singles up the middle would load the bases for red hot catcher Patrick Mazeika who would drive in the first run of the game on a fielders choice.
Dunn would get through the second giving up just one earned run but it would be an uphill battle from there. Dunn failed to record an out in the third inning and was pulled after hitting the Miracle’s Brian Navarreto in the head with an errant fastball. Navarreto would be fine, but after three hits, two errors, and two HBP, Dunn would be on the hook for eight runs, six of them earned.
Austin McGeorge would come in the stop the bleeding but the damage had been done and after a giving up a solo shot in the top of the fourth inning the Mets would find themselves down 9-1.
The Mets fought back with an offensive explosion led by a three-run home run off the bat of Mazeika in the fifth. The Mets catcher was 3-5 on the night, adding two doubles and driving in four runs. Nick Sergakis would follow up the home run with a little league home run, rounding the bases after two throwing errors turned a double into a run, bringing the score to a more manageable 9-5.
Diehl and J.C. Rodriguez would both have two RBI in the sixth but the Mets would leave runners on base for the sixth straight inning. St Lucie would finish the game 7-19 with runners in scoring position, leaving 11 men stranded.
After putting up zeros in the fifth and sixth McGeorge was relieved by Justin Brantley in the seventh where he keep the scored tied at 9-9. In, the eighth however, the Miracle broke through on a two-out RBI single by Chris Paul and an RBI double by Zander Wiel a batter later. Wiel was the star offensively for the Miracle, going 4-5 on the night.
That second run would prove to be difference as the Mets loaded the bases with no outs for Anthony Dimino who grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, tacking on a run. The tying run would stay on third however as Miracle reliever Jonny Drozd got Jhoan Urena looking to end the game.
The jerseys worn by the St. Lucie Mets featured a battle scene on the ice planet Hoth from the Star Wars film The Empire Strikes back. The jerseys are available to bid on in an online auction benefiting the Boys and Girls Club of St. Lucie County. The auction can be found at stluciemets.milbauctions.com and ends Sunday night May 7 at 11:59 PM.
