Lightning Sweep Doubleheader Thanks to Sean Mootrey’s Late Heroics

Leesburg, FL – Next to the word clutch in the dictionary, you’ll find a picture of the Leesburg Lightning (23-7), and if you look closely, you can see first baseman Sean Mootrey (Georgia Gwinnett) smiling bigger than anyone. The Lightning overcame a 7-6 deficit in extra innings in game two after winning a weather-shortened game one to take both games of a doubleheader against the Winter Garden Squeeze (12-17).

Game 1

The Lightning loaded the bases early in the game, threatening to break the continuation game open in the bottom of the second inning. Walker McCleney (Alabama) was hit by a pitch, forcing home Matthew Wiseman (San Jacinto) to put Leesburg up 1-0. Luke Brown (Western Kentucky) had a chance to drive in as many as four more runs during the next at-bat, but he grounded into a double play to end the scoring chance.

The Squeeze answered back quickly when Adams Torres (UCF) singled to left field, driving in Pablo Cabrera (Florida Southern) to tie the game up at one.

The two teams traded runs in the bottom of the third and top of the fifth, but the bottom of the fifth provided the drama for the afternoon. Luke Brown led off the inning with a bloop single to center field, followed by a Jake Matulia (Flagler) infield single off the glove of third baseman Sadler Goodwin (Troy). Jose Crisostomo (Miami Dade) laid down a bunt that led to a throwing error by relief pitcher Nick Niarchos (High Point), scoring Luke Brown from second to put Leesburg ahead 3-2. After Wes Weeks (North Florida) walked to load the bases, Jay Prather (North Florida) hit an RBI double to deep center field, picking up his 20^th and 21^st RBIs of the season. Tanner Clark’s (North Florida) sac fly drove in Weeks to put the Lightning ahead 6-2. From there, the game entered a lightning delay and was not resumed. According to league rules, any game that has completed five innings and is delayed by more than 90 minutes due to weather is considered final.

After some waiting around, the Lightning were officially declared the winners of game one, 6-2 in five innings.

Game 2

Nearly three hours after the first game was halted, game two finally began in front of a much smaller crowd at Pat Thomas Stadium.

Despite the long delay, both teams came out on fire, combining for nine runs through the first three innings.

“By this point in the summer they’re kind of used to it, they know that weather is a factor every single day,” Lightning head coach Rich Billings said after his team showed no ill effects of waiting around. “I don’t think anything surprised them anymore, that’s a credit to them. They got themselves ready in a timely manner today and got it done.”

The Squeeze jumped on Lightning starter Hunter Caudelle (Georgia Gwinnett) early, starting with a Reeder Smith (Dyersburg State CC) single and a walk to Aaron Anderson (Flagler) to start the first inning. With Smith on third thanks to two wild pitches from Caudelle, Sadler Goodwin smacked a double to deep left field, scoring Smith and moving Anderson to third. Drenis Ozuna (Connors State) followed that up with an RBI single to put Winter Garden up 3-0 just three outs into the game.

Leesburg was quick to respond, however, using singles from Luke Brown and Ja’Kobi Dasher (Flagler) and a double by Jose Crisostomo to power a four-run inning. Garrett Bogart (Savannah State) was hit by a pitch with two outs to load the bases, but Luke Brown, batting for the second time in the frame, popped up to keep the Lightning run total at four.

Trailing 5-4 after the Squeeze plated one run in both the second and third innings, Leesburg got two runs in abnormal fashion to retake the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With runners on second and third, Ja’Kobi Dasher struck out swinging on a dropped third strike. The throw down to first base was on time and got Dasher for the second out of the inning, but first baseman Aaron Anderson’s throw home was way off target and nowhere close to getting Wes Weeks out. The ball ended up in the away dugout, allowing Jay Prather to score as well, allowing the Lightning to re-take the lead, 6-5.

Winter Garden wouldn’t go away, adding their sixth run of the game on a Sadler Goodwin sacrifice fly to tie the game with just two innings remaining. The game was only scheduled to be seven innings since it was game two of a doubleheader.

Because the game was a scheduled seven-inning game, when the game was tied 6-6 at the end of the seventh, it was officially an extra-inning game.

Before the start of extra innings, coach Billings had one of his increasingly common team meetings outside the home dugout, and Sean Mootrey believes that it’s Billings’ fun-loving attitude that gets the team excited and fired-up for the rest of the game. “Honestly, it’s the jokes that he has,” said Mootrey, laughing. “He’ll come out, crack a funny joke and we’ll just all listen up and play a little bit better.”

The Squeeze drove in the runner who started the inning on second base due to league extra inning rules, Reeder Smith, on an error, but couldn’t muster any more offense in the eighth inning. With Aaron Anderson on third base, Luke Reidy (Rollins) hit a sharp grounder back up the middle, but Lightning hurler Pedro Reyes made a great snag and made the unassisted play for out number three.

Reyes joined Matthew Coles (Florida Tech) and Dominic Jeancola (Embry-Riddle) in giving up no earned runs out of the bullpen, a huge win for a short-staffed team. “That was the difference in the game,” coach Billings said about his relievers’ outstanding effort in game two. “Those were the only guys we had so we didn’t really have a choice. That was really big for our confidence, our team’s confidence, and those guys did a great job.”

Sean Mootrey played the hero role once again in extra innings. With Tucker Rayburn (Florida A&M) on second and Walker McCleney on first via a hit-by-pitch, Mootrey unleased a no-doubter over the left field wall, driving in all three runs and giving the Lightning the 9-7 win.

After the game, Mootrey said that their seemingly endless energy comes from their desire to have fun and play for each other every game. “We’re all just goofy kids out here trying to have fun during the summer,” he explained. “We just get energy from each other and good things happen.”

The Lightning will have the next three days off before returning to Pat Thomas Stadium to face the DeLand Suns on July 18 at 7:00 p.m.

Matt Holzapfel (Elon University)

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