Lightning drop game one against Sanford

The Leesburg Lightning (6-5) traveled to Sanford (9-5) for the start of a three-game series on Thursday night that would end the Bolts’ four-game win streak with a 7-1 loss at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

The River Rats scored first with a solo home run over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

They scored again in the fourth when a single brought in one and a double added two for a 4-0 Sanford lead.

“There were errors on defense that don’t count as errors in the book,” Billings said. “We were late getting to some bags and throwing to some wrong bases and not holding guys when we should.”

Josh Wilson (Florida A&M) started on the mound for the Lightning and tossed 5.1 innings with five hits, four runs and three strikeouts. Benjamin Berggren (Bethune-Cookman) replaced him in the sixth and closed out the inning with a fly out and put out. 

“I thought Josh pitched well,” Lightning head coach Rich Billings said. “He gave us everything he had in the tank. He didn’t leave anything, there was nothing left when he came out. He did a good job but it’s tough to get a pitcher a win when you don’t score any runs.”

Ryan Allain (Florida Tech) followed Berggren with 1.2 innings with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts.

The bottom of the seventh brought in three more on a well placed single and double for a 7-0 River Rats lead.

“There’s just some small things we have to clean up,” Billings said. “We made plays but there was a lot of things we could have done defensively better to keep seven runs from scoring.” 

Tristen Gagan (Southeast Missouri) cut into the Rats’ lead with a first-pitch solo home run in the top of the eighth for his second long ball of the season.

The Lightning return home Friday, June 23, for game two of the series against the River Rats with first pitch set for 7 p.m. 

“It feels like we’ve been on the road for a month,” Billings said. “We’ve been the road warriors here this week… it’s always nice to go home and you know you’ve got 1,200 Lightning fans behind you and routing for you. The guys always feed off of that so we’re looking forward to being back at Pat Thomas tomorrow night.”

Emily Shoffit (Auburn University)

Emily Shoffit - 06/22/17 11:12pm

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