Leesburg Splits Doubleheader With Winter Park, Making History in The Process

Winter Park, FL - The longest winning streak in Florida Collegiate Summer League history now belongs to the 2018 Leesburg Lightning. The Lightning (20-7) won game one against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (11-15) but dropped game two after faltering on offense.

Game 1

The first game started in the bottom of the second inning after it was started on June 23 but suspended only nine outs in, with Leesburg ahead 1-0. The game was essentially reset after Dawgs lead-off batter Jacob Teter (Florida Southern) hit a home run on the first pitch of the restarted game from Lightning starter Ronny Hinton (South Florida State).

Hinton was able to rebound, though, making that the only earned run he would allow in 4 1/3 innings of "relief" work. Technically, the game was started by Rob Kwiatkowski (Spartanburg Methodist) back in June, but Kwiatkowski was not available to pitch tonight, and Hinton picked up the win, pushing his record for the season to 3-0.

The Lighting added three key runs (two in the fifth and one on the sixth) in what ended up being a tight contest down the stretch. After Sean Mootrey (Georgia Gwinnett) knocked in Jay Prather (North Florida) with an RBI single in the top of the sixth, the Diamond Dawgs answered with one run in the bottom half of the frame, making it 4-2 heading into the seventh and final inning.

With a spot in the record books on the line, Leesburg closer Pedro Reyes-Ruiz (Miami Dade) bent but didn't break, allowing a home run to Hunter Phillips (Alabama State), getting Jeff Korte (Illinois) to foul out to Luke Brown (Western Kentucky) to earn the save.

After the game, Lightning head coach Rich Billings said he wasn't quite sure when he knew that this team was capable of something special like their 14-game win streak, but he certainly did know. "There was a good stretch there when it felt like we might not lose another game the whole season, I think everybody felt like that," Billings explained. "I think the fans expected it, our players were playing as though that was going to be the case. Probably eight or nine games in (it felt special). I had no idea what the league record was or the Lightning record was, but our guys, once we got to that 10th win in a row, they had an idea that we were definitely capable of it."

Game 2

The sequel to the first game was an anomaly to the entire season for this Lighting squad, but something we've seen on a couple occasions recently. Leesburg only scored one run on five hits, failing to register over two runs for the second time this week but only the seventh time all season.

The Lightning scored their only run of the game in the top of the first inning after lead-off batter Luke Brown singled to center field, advanced to second and third on a wild pitch from Winter Park starter AJ Chacon (Undecided), and scored on an RBI single by Jay Prather. Leesburg only mustered three hits through the next six innings of play, putting together one of their worst offensive outputs all season.

"They just kept playing, they outplayed us for the last six innings," said coach Billings of the Diamond Dawgs pitching staff in game two. "Their pitchers did a really good nice job. Chacon gave them a really good start, he kept making pitches and got us to chase a lot of his pitches. We didn't do a very good job at the plate of competing. Then their bullpen arms did a really nice job too, coming in and just getting it done."

Winter Park also failed to score in all but one inning, but their three-run outburst in the fourth inning proved to be just enough to get the job done. Cristian Rivera (Webber International) hit a two-RBI double to deep left field, immediately followed by an RBI groundout by Cale Jones (Santa Fe).

Lightning starter Joshua Shapiro (Marshall) took the loss in the game but did regain the league lead in strikeouts with 32 on the season.

Leesburg and Winter Park will face off once more in the series when the Dawgs come back to Pat Thomas Stadium on Friday, July 13 at 7 p.m. That game will mark the final regular-season meeting between the two teams.

Matt Holzapfel (Elon University)

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