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Mayfield Homerun Edges Out Orlando

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 2:37am

One night after top prospect Bryce Harper made national headlines, Leesburg prospects were making their own at Orel Hershiser Field in Orlando. The Lightning narrowly defeated the Orlando Freedom 9-8 due in part to yet another strong offensive showing.

It was a night of firsts for the Lightning who saw their first homerun of the season as well as their first injury. In the third inning, Freedom centerfielder Anthony Coronia stole second base and Lightning catcher Mike Albaladejo threw a strike that jumped up and caught Leesburg second baseman Tom Sicking in the nose. Sicking, who was bleeding, had to be replaced by Eric Sams. The injury wasn’t serious however, and Sicking isn’t expected to miss any time.

The homerun came off the bat of Hunter Mayfield who sent a belt-high fastball over the right field fence for a three run shot in the third inning. The homerun was the first for Leesburg on the young season and was put just out of reach of the leaping rightfielder. The Lightning would add another run giving them four in the third inning and an early 6-2 lead. “I got a good barrel on it and got just enough,” said Mayfield. “It’s good to get that first one and hopefully we can add more, but I’m not going to change my swing at the plate.”

The Freedom would storm back in the fourth inning, scoring four runs off three hits and another costly error, this one coming from pitcher Ethan Bader who threw a ball over first baseman Chase Durham’s head. Bader would settle down in the next frame and would leave the game tied 6-6.

The score would remain that way until the seventh inning when it was an Orlando error that would prove costly. With a runner on second and two outs, Orlando shortstop Jake Huxtable let a ball get under his glove and Leesburg capitalized on the mistake. They would add two more runs on three hits, including a double by Troy Drummond, who had two on the night.

The pitching performances ranged from dominating to disappointing on both sides and on a night where there were 25 strikeouts, it’s vexing how there could have been such an offensive showing from both teams. For most of the pitchers, it seemed that when they were on they were unhittable and when they weren’t they were hit around the ballpark.

New York product and Flagler College pitcher Micah Kellogg struck out seven over his three innings of work, including back to back strikeouts with the tying run in scoring position and one out. Max Rusch was given the ball in the 9^thinning and promptly closed the door on the Freedom, earning him his first save of the season.

Also adding hits for the Lightning were Mike Albaladejo, playing in his first game of the season, showing his veteran presence going 2-3 with a double and a run. Shortstop Jacob Tillotson also etched his name in the scorebook with three runs, reaching base four times out of his five plate appearances. “I look for a good pitch to hit and I’ve been seeing the ball pretty well,” said Tillotson of his approach at the plate.

“Execution is our number one priority,” said hitting coach James Scrubbs, whos team has 40 runs through four games thus far. “Moving the guys around the bases is what’s important and so far we’ve been able to do that.”

It’s a battle of the undefeated tomorrow as Leesburg takes on Winter Park at 7:00. Both teams are 4-0.