Rats take series from Leesburg in Thursday night loss

Cutting into a Sanford River Rats (10-3) lead with a two out rally in the ninth could not get it done for the Leesburg Lightning (6-6) on Thursday night at Pat Thomas Stadium. The Bolts dropped the series with the 5-3 loss after a game of confusion and opportunity cut short.

An RBI single from Tristen Gagan gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.

Daniel Bergtholdt started on the mound for Leesburg and tossed five innings with eight hits, three runs, one walk and five strikeouts.

In the bottom of the third, Michael Koenig reached first on an error called out number three. Gagan reached home from second, which was ruled a run by the home plate umpire with a point to home and two fingers held up in the air.

The call of the final out at first was overturned to an error on the third baseman and the run counted for a 2-0 Lightning lead.

Sanford head coach Kevin Davidson came out to argue the call and the umpires met, overturning the run after claiming it had never been called. Billings came out to argue and the home plate umpire insisted the run at home wasn’t credited according to Billings and assistant coach Doug Teegarden.

A sacrifice fly by the Rats’ Gunnar Lambert to center scored the tying run in the fourth for a 1-1 ballgame. Two more scored for Sanford in the fifth for a 3-1 contest and added a fourth run in the seventh for a 4-1 lead.

Dominic Jeancola replaced Bergtholdt in the sixth, going 2.2 innings with two hits, two runs and four strikeouts before Daniel Pierce entered to replace the right-hander.

A single to right field in the bottom of the eighth gave the Rats a 5-1 advantage over the Lightning and it all came down to the bottom of the ninth.

With two outs, Tucker Rayburn stepped up and knocked a single to right to score Cage Cox from second. The newest Lightning addition Brent Burgess brought home Rayburn on a single to center for a 5-3 ball game, but it was all the Lightning could finish when a pop up to the catcher ended the contest.

The Bolts host the River Rats for the finale of the series on Saturday, June 23, at Pat Thomas with first pitch set for 7 p.m.

Emily Shoffit - 06/23/17 10:41pm

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