LAKELAND, Fla. (June 4, 2026) - The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels jumped out to an early 10-0 lead and dominated the Lakeland Flying Tigers from start to finish on Thursday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Fort Myers (31-23) scored double digit runs for the second time in three games and the offense saw seven starters reach base multiple times by the end of the fourth inning.
The shutout victory was the Mussels’ Single-A leading seventh of the season and the first for the team since April 26 against Dunedin. That total is good for second in all of Minor League Baseball, trailing just the Arkansas Travelers (SEA, Double-A) who have eight.
It was also the fifth time in the last eight games that the pitching staff allowed two runs on fewer.
Fort Myers chased Lakeland (26-27) starter Malachi Witherspoon just five batters into the game. Detroit's No. 9 prospect started his outing with a strikeout, but then issued three walks to load the bases and plunked Luis Fragoza to make it 1-0. Facing the new arm in Jatnk Diaz, Quentin Young delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 2-0. Second baseman Bryan Acuna followed with a ground ball through the right side of the infield to extend the lead 3-0.
The Mighty Mussels kept their foot on the gas in the second, adding seven runs to extend their lead 10-0. The first eight men reached safely on a leadoff walk and then seven consecutive hits. Two-run doubles by Fragoza and Young highlighted the massive inning that saw 11 men come to the plate.
In total, the Mussels recorded eight hits in the inning, a single-inning season-high. They had previously had six hits in an inning four times. The seven runs was one short of matching a season high.
Lakeland needed 73 pitches to record the first six outs of the game as the Flying Tigers had to face 19 batters in two innings. Fort Myers had the top four batters in its order all record three plate appearances before Lakeland completed their first trip through their lineup.
Mussels’ starter Justin Mitrovich dominated across five shutout innings**.** He struck out five while allowing just two hits and two walks on a season high 71 pitches, lowering his season ERA 0.87 in 20.2 innings of work. The righty retired 10 straight Flying Tigers from the end of the first to the middle of the fourth.
Matthew Dalquist (S1) relieved Mitrovich in the sixth and retired the first 11 batters he faced before the defense committed an error on what would have been the final out of the game. Dating back to the final two outs from Mitrovich, the duo retired 13 straight batters. Mussels’ pitching has recorded four streaks of 10+ consecutive batters retired in three games this series.
The series continues on Friday, June 5. Fort Myers will send Reed Moring (1.95) to the mound, opposite Ali Tanner (6.38) who starts for Lakeland. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with coverage beginning at 6:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.