Lightning Bats Falter as DeLand Earns Series Sweep

DeLand, FL - 11 strikeouts, nine of them looking. That's what the final line looked like for DeLand pitchers Nick Chiseri (Miami Dade) and Mason Groves (Winthrop) on a night where the Leesburg Lightning (23-10) couldn't get the bats off of their shoulders enough to beat the streaking Suns (19-14). DeLand pulled within four games of the Lightning in the Florida League standings for the first time in weeks as Leesburg continues to try and lock up the number playoff seed.

"It was a combination of things, all of which were bad. We're swinging at bad pitches, not doing our job early in the count, and fouling off fastballs on fastball counts when we know fastballs are coming," Lightning Head Coach Rich Billings said of his team's offensive performance after the game. "It's just a lot of negatives right now at the plate and our hitters need to work their way through it. It's not because their bad hitters, we didn't win 23 games by being bad hitters. They'll come out of it."

Coach Billings employed a new defensive lineup that featured several new position switches for key players. Tucker Rayburn (Florida A&M) played second base for the first time with the Lightning, although he usually plays second at school, new catcher Frank Niemann (Tulane) played first base, and Wes Weeks (North Florida) was the designated hitter, a change from his usual home in right field.

"Just switching some things up," Billings explained. "Seeing what might happen. Tucker played a lot of second base at TCC this year, he was their second baseman so he's certainly capable of playing there. I thought it might get his bat going a little bit playing a different position. I think a lot of it too is just giving guys a different look and getting them excited to come back out on the field and get them back to playing well."

Three of the game's four runs came in the third inning, starting with Leesburg's only run in the top half of the frame. Walker McCleney (Alabama), one of only two Leesburg hitters who didn't strike out in the game, started the inning off on a high note with a triple to deep right field. The extra base hit was McCleney's first triple of the season. Luke Brown (Western Kentucky) hit a sacrifice fly one at-bat later, giving Leesburg their only run of the game.

Singles by Wade Stauss (Southeast Missouri) and Nick DeTringo (Tampa) put two runners on with no outs, but then things got a bit weird. The next Suns batter, Scout McFalls (Winthrop), laid down a sacrifice bunt to Lightning pitcher Ethan Chavis (North Carolina A&T), who fielded the grounder and fired to first. While that was happening, new Lightning player Frank Niemann, who was playing first base for the first time since joining the team, charged the groundball but dropped to the ground when he saw Chavis field it. Chavis' throw to second baseman Tucker Rayburn was off target low and actually drilled the crouching Niemann in the back before skipping past Rayburn. The throwing error by Chavis allowed both Stauss and DeTringo to score, vaulting DeLand ahead 2-1. Chavis was able to register three strikeouts in the next four at-bats to escape with only two runs allowed to the home side.

A Nick DeTringo sac fly to left field brought home Kyle Ball (Stetson) in the next inning, putting the Suns up 3-1.

One bright spot for the Lightning in the loss was the performance of newest Leesburg pitcher D'Andre Knight (Marshall). Knight, who just arrived in Leesburg this week, made his debut in the fifth inning of the seven-inning game (shortened due to a 90-minute weather delay). He allowed two hits and faced a bases-loaded jam but ended up registering three strikeouts without giving up a run.

"It's not an easy thing to step on a new team where you don't know anybody and to come out and perform right away, but he did a good job tonight," Coach Billings said of Knight, who previously played for DeLand and Winter Garden in his first two years in the league. "He did a good job tonight. It was his first time on the mound in a while and there were a lot of good things that he can build on. I was really happy with D'Andre and he's going to continue to get better from there."

The Lightning will look to rebound quickly as they take on the Winter Garden Squeeze at 6:00 p.m. in Winter Garden.

Matt Holzapfel (Elon University)

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