Leesburg's Rally Falls Short, Snapping Their Five-Game Win Streak

DELAND, Fla. - The Leesburg Lightning (19-21) traveled to Conrad Park at Melching Field on Wednesday night and fell to the DeLand Suns (20-16) in a nail-biter, 5-4. Harrison Scanlon (Western Kentucky) went 4-for-5 at the plate with an RBI but Suns pitching kept the Lightning quiet, snapping their five-game winning streak.

The game was a continuation of a suspended game from Thursday, July 14.

After extending its win streak to five games with Tuesday night’s 20-3 win at Winter Park, Leesburg came back to earth. Their bullpen kept them in tact after falling behind 5-0 in the fourth, but time simply ran out for the Lightning.

Following a scoreless second and third, DeLand got to Call Graham (Florida Southern) as they chased him with five runs in the fourth. Trent Blum (St. Petersburg) led off the inning with a hit and later came around to score on a Wade McNabb (Stetson) single, giving themselves a 1-0 lead. Zachary Reks (Kentucky) kept things going with a two-RBI triple into the right-center gap, scoring two to make it 3-0.

A fielder’s choice, and a sacrifice fly by Stetson Smith (Armstrong Atlantic St.) helped increase the lead to 5-0.

After putting up just two hits through the first four innings of Wednesday night’s resumption, Leesburg broke through with their first two runs in the fifth.

A walk and sudden control issues by Blum made way for Igor Baez (Flagler) as he singled past the shortstop to bring in Austin Simmons (Thomas) to make it 5-1. Another hit-by-pitch — Blum’s third in the inning — brought in another run to trim the lead to 5-2.

As they’ve done much of the season, Leesburg’s bullpen pitched immensely well following the exit of their starting pitcher. Once Graham exited, MacLain Larson (Flagler), Nate Brecklin (The Citadel), and Kade Hunkapiller (State College of FL) combined to throw 4.2 scoreless innings.

In the ninth, down to their final three outs, the Lightning displayed a heap of resilience.

Jose Bonilla (Florida Atlantic) led off with a walk and later advanced on a single by Cornell Nixon (Eastern Kentucky). Following a fielder’s choice putout to advance both runners into scoring position, Scanlon came to bat with Leesburg down to its final out. He hit a ball down the third base foul line that the third basemen was unable to field and throw cleanly, allowing both Nixon and Bonilla to score to make it 5-4.

With the fans at Conrad Park on their feet in anticipation of a Suns win, reliever Byron Ferguson (King) retired Tanner Long (Thomas) on a deep ball to center field. Reks got an excellent jump on the ball and was able to track it down to put a damper on Leesburg’s rally.

“Some games are tougher than others,” Head Coach Rich Billings said. “We fought through some really tough situations but we just got beat by a good team tonight.”

Blum picked up the win for DeLand, while Graham (0-5) took the loss.

With the loss, the Lightning have moved back into fifth place and are now a half game back of the fourth place Winter Garden Squeeze.

“We’re still in a good spot moving forward and our destiny lies in our hands and only ours.”

Leesburg will return to action on Thursday night as they travel to Lake Brantley High School to open up a three-game set with the Altamonte Springs Boom. The first pitch is set for 7 p.m.

Eddie Poe, York College of Pennsylvania

Eddie Poe - 07/28/16 2:41am

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