Lightning shutout Rats in Friday night victory

A strong Leesburg Lighting (15-16-1) defense and heads up baseball secured another win, 3-0, for the Bolts against the Sanford River Rats (24-10) on Friday night at Pat Thomas Stadium.

Michael Johnson started for Leesburg and went six solid innings with four hits, no runs and three strikeouts before Mike Ruff replaced him on the bump.

“Sanford is not a strikeout team,” Johnson said. “I just had to get everything in the zone so they could just roll over… I’m that rollover, fly out guy and that’s exactly what I did today.”

Tristen Gagan earned the first hit of the night for the Lightning with a double down the right field line in the bottom of the fourth. He advanced to third on a slow roller from Cage Cox and was plated by Michael Koenig on a double to right center field for a 1-0 Leesburg lead.

The Bolts extended their lead in the bottom of the eighth on a bases loaded no out walk and an insurance RBI single from Cage Cox put Leesburg up 3-0. Sanford limited the damage on a double play at home and closed out the Bolts scoring on a fly out to left.

“There’s defense, there’s offense and there’s pitching. If you’re good at two of those three things every night, you got a great shot at winning,” Lightning head coach Rich Billings said. “We weren’t real offensive tonight but we were offensive enough. We were outstanding on the mound and outstanding defensively.”

Ruff went two innings and allowed no hits, had no walks and struck out four before Drew Peden replaced him. The submarine pitcher combined with Ruff and Johnson to shutout the Rats, finishing with one hit and three strikeouts to secure Leesburg’s second win against Sanford since early June.

“Our goal for tomorrow is to win that first game, to win that seven inning game,” Billings said. “Stay focused for those first seven innings and win that series… we put ourselves in a great position to move up.”

The Lightning travel to Sanford Memorial Stadium tomorrow for a doubleheader against the Rats, with first pitch set for 4 p.m.

Emily Shoffit - 07/21/17 10:18pm

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