SaraSox roll over Miracle, 10-0 Murton homers twice, West hits another;

four Sarasota pitchers combine for 5-hitter.

BY PHIL DENIS CORRESPONDENT
FORT MYERS -- Loaded!

That was the word often used the past couple of months to describe the Sarasota Red Sox's potential roster for the 85th anniversary of the Class A Florida State League.

The team lived up to the advance billing with a 10-0 romp over the Fort Myers Miracle in the season opener at Hammond Stadium on Thursday night.

A capacity crowd of 8,062 saw Sarasota collect 17 hits off four Miracle pitchers. Left fielder Matt Murton drove in five runs with a pair of home runs and Jeremy West added a two-run shot.

Lenny Dinardo, winner Kason Gabbard, David Pahucki and Brian Marshall combined to throw a five-hit shutout for the SaraSox.

Dinardo, a 6-foot-4, 195-pounder, needed only 33 pitches -- 26 strikes -- to induce seven ground ball outs and had two strikeouts in three innings.

The high-powered SaraSox offense got going in the top of the second inning when West led off with a double and scored on an infield RBI misplayed grounder by Murphy.

West and Murton homered in the fourth.

Murphy and Ramirez, respectively, had run-scoring singles in the fifth and sixth before Murton hit his second homer in the seventh.

Notebook

The teams meet here again tonight at 7, then the series shifts to Sarasota on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's home opener at 7 p.m., will be the Herald-Tribune's Newspaper in Education Night. That game will be followed by a fireworks show.