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Lightning Steal Home to Clinch 5-4 Victory Over the Suns

Sunday, July 11, 2010 12:13pm

Baseball is a game that requires awareness of the situation, and the Leesburg Lightning proved that in Saturday night’s ballgame against the DeLand Suns.  The Lightning would load the bases in the top of the eighth inning with one out, Michael Gonzalez (East Tennessee State) standing 90 feet away from home.  After walking Alex Hudak (Florida Atlantic) to load the bases, Adam Cellini (Belmont) would stand in, the first pitch way off the plate for ball one.  Suns catcher would run out to the mound to calm his pitcher down, and realizing that timeout had not been called or given, third base coach Tony Darden sent Gonzalez home.  It was a steal home, and the run would put the Lightning up 5-3, and would be the deciding run in the game.  “Very heads up play by Tony and by Mike Gonzalez,” Coach Viola said, “there was no timeout called.  That was just good fundamental baseball.”  The stolen base home would be the only run the Lightning would get in the eighth, one that proved to be the most important run of the ballgame.

The Lightning would quickly fall behind in the game, the Suns scoring one run in the bottom of the second and then again in the bottom of the fourth.  Suns outfielder Dexter Kelley (Savannah State) would have a day at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three singles and a double.  Kelley would score in both the second and fourth inning, and would later pick up an RBI in the seventh inning, responsible for three of the four Suns runs on the evening.  Of the Suns twelve total hits, Kelley held a third of them to himself, and as stated earlier, would be the main production man in the scoring category for the Suns.  The Suns would threaten in every inning of the game, but due to outstanding Lightning defense, the Suns would only score a single run in four separate innings.

In the top of the fifth inning, Lightning bats would come alive, starting with a single by Hudak.  With one out, and Hudak standing on second base after a successful steal, Nick Smelser (Midland College), Danny Baatz (UNC Asheville), and Thomas Sicking (South Florida CC) would hit back-to-back-to-back RBI doubles to left field, followed by an RBI single to right field by Mark Darlington (West Virginia Wesleyan).  Sicking would have an outstanding night himself, going 3-for-4 with three doubles and a walk.  “He swings the bat very well,” Viola complimented on his newly acquired player.  The Lightning would rack up ten hits in the game, six of which were in the form of doubles.

The Suns would score their third run in the seventh inning on an RBI single by Kelley, scoring Chandler McClaren (Volunteer State CC) who had reached on a double to left field.  Kelley would then steal second and third base easily.  Reliever Kyle Wahl (Southern University) would then throw a wild pitch to the backstop, and Kelley would go for home.  With a nice kick back off the wall, catcher Robert Beary (University of South Carolina) would pick up the ball and in one motion flip it to Wahl who would come in low to the plate, make the catch and apply a great tag on Kelley, ending the inning and holding the lead by one run.

The Suns would score their final run of the game in the bottom of the eighth, and would threaten to tie the game with a runner on third and two outs.  A slow roller to second base looked as though it would score the run from third, but Smelser was there to make an outstanding play, throwing across his body to catch the runner by a single step to end the inning.

Heads up baseball was the key component in the outcome of the Saturday night’s game, Gonzalez stealing home on a mental mistake by the DeLand Suns to give the Lightning their thirteen win of the season.  The Lightning get Sunday off before hosting the Orlando Mavericks at home on Monday, July 12^th at 7:00PM.

Trey Garant (University of Michigan)