Lightning Win Drama-Filled Contest Over Sanford, 7-6

Leesburg, FL – It wasn’t easy, but Leesburg (8-1) picked up their eighth win of the season, an action-packed 7-6 victory over the Sanford River Rats (5-6) that was competitive throughout.

The drama started early when, in the second inning, Lightning starting pitcher Joshua Shapiro (Marshall) was injured making a throw to first base. After a near perfect first inning, Shapiro was roughed up by Sanford batters in the second, giving up two runs on a deep double by Jackson Muldowney (Indian River State). Leesburg’s starter, who racked up 10 strikeouts in his previous start, a 9-2 win over the Winter Garden Squeeze, was lifted for Aaron Simple (Flagler) after the injury.

More bad news came Leesburg’s way in the bottom of the second inning when Walker McCleney (Alabama) came up hobbling after he was caught stealing by Sanford catcher Cole Warken (Undecided). McCleney was replaced in center field by Javeon Cody (Alvin CC), who was originally given the night off for rest.

“We’ll know more tomorrow, day-to-day right now, but we’ll know more tomorrow on these guys,” head coach Rich Billings said about McCleney and Shapiro, both of whom appeared to still be hobbled after the game. Luckily Javeon Cody and Aaron Simple were both ready to come in and have an impact right away in relief. “Javeon made some nice plays on defense for us, and Simple out of the bullpen was awesome tonight. He did exactly what we needed him to do, gave us some long-relief innings, pumped strikes all night long, got some big outs and let his defense work. I thought the bullpen did a great job tonight of stepping up when Josh got hurt.”

The River Rats added their third run of the game in the top of the third inning after Dathan Prewett (Undecided) singled to start the inning, stole second and third and then came home on a wild pitch from Aaron Simple. Simple struck out Michael Harkcom (Florida International) and Bubba Sangster (St Johns River State) to escape with only one more run added on the board.

The Leesburg bats finally woke up in the bottom of the third, starting with a Tanner Clark (North Florida) single and culminating in three runs crossing the plate thanks to RBIs from Jake Matulia (Flagler), Jay Prather (North Florida) and Tanner May (North Florida). Wes Weeks (North Florida) was looking to make Osprey hitters 3-3 in the inning and drive in even more runs, but he grounded out to end the inning.

Sanford lost their starting first baseman Parker Quinn (Hofstra) to a broken nose after he collided with catcher Cole Warken while trying to chase down a ball in foul territory off the bat of Javeon Cody in the fourth inning. Alex Dickinson (Princeton) came in to replace Quinn, who was okay after being attended to by Leesburg’s trainer.

The Lightning captured their first lead of the game thanks to a Tanner May RBI double in the bottom of the fifth that scored Luke Brown (Western Kentucky) from second.

The River Rats wasted no time tying the game back up in the top of the sixth on a Cole Warken RBI single to left field that scored Alex Dickinson from second. The run went down as unearned after Dickinson reached base thanks to a Tanner May error two at-bats earlier.

The wheels began to fall off for the home team after new pitcher Kevin Barham (Georgia Highlands) lasted only 8 pitches in the top of the seventh inning, all of them balls to walk both Jonnie Benniefield III (Undecided) and Dathan Prewett to start the inning. Ethan Chavis (North Carolina A&T) came in to save the day, getting back-to-back batters out before Jarrod Cande (Santa Fe CC) beat out a groundball to shortstop, allowing Benniefield to score, putting Sanford up 5-4. A Tanner Clark throwing error brought Prewett home as well, but Chavis got Alex Dickinson out on strikes to escape the inning with Leesburg only down two runs.

A quick answer from Leesburg once again heightened the drama even more in the bottom of the frame. Tanner Clark walked to start the inning, Jake Matulia doubled two batters later, and Jay Prather showed great hustle on an infield single to the pitcher as Matulia and Clark scored on an error to tie the game up at six. Back-to-back wild pitches from Matt Logullo (Florida International) allowed Prather to cross the plate, putting the Lightning up 7-6.

“It’s huge because it allows me not to panic. I think we know whether it’s early or late we’re going to put up runs so as long as the pitchers can keep us close, I feel really confident in our ability to put up enough runs to end up on top at the end,” coach Billings said, describing the way his team has found a variety of ways to come away with wins during this eight-game win streak. “We can run a little bit, we can bunt, defensively we’ve pretty good and we’ve limited the mistakes for the most part. We get some big hits with runners in scoring position, we’ve just found ways to scrap runs across and it’s nice to know that we have the ability to do that.”

Louis Davenport (Pensacola State) pitched phenomenally in the eighth and ninth innings, striking out four of the six batters he faced to earn the save and secure a 7-6 victory for the Lightning.

The Lighting will meet the River Rats again on Friday at Sanford Memorial Stadium for game two of the first three-game series of the season between the two teams.

Matt Holzapfel (Elon University)

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