LEESBURG, Fla - The Leesburg Lightning had two players selected for season awards across the Florida Collegiate Summer League. FCSL Reliever of the Year was awarded to right-hander Tyler Van Dyke (Seminole St) and infielder Gabriel Santiago (Coker) received the David Eckstein Sportsmanship Award. 

Van Dyke had an incredible season with the Bolts as he did not allow a single run all year long, tossing 19 innings over 13 appearances, finishing with a perfect 0.00 ERA and a 2-0 record. 

There were so many big moments for “T.V.D.” and he delivered every time for his team, completing the season with 32 strikeouts, six walks and only nine hits allowed. He was the go-to-guy when the Lightning were in a jam and needed saving. 

Entering his second year of junior-college ball, Van Dyke will return to Seminole County State College and will compete with the best in Florida JUCO baseball. We wish him all the best and hope to see him on the mound for Leesburg in years to come. 

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SANFORD, Fl - The Leesburg Lightning end their season with a tragic loss to the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs by a score of 11-3 in a deciding game three of the FCSL Championship Series in an eighth-inning mercy rule.

Winter Park led the entire game as they took an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. After a five-run fourth inning, the Dawgs led 7-0 and coasted to victory, capturing their sixth FCSL championship. 

In the eighth inning, Winter Park would score another four runs to extend their lead to eight runs, sealing the run-rule victory as Leesburg failed to record an out in the inning. It was an absolute downpour of offense as the Dawgs put together 11 runs on 14 hits. 

The Lightning showed a bit of fight in the top of the seventh inning as center fielder Austin Brinling (North Florida) pulled a ball down the right field line with a pair of runners on base for a two-run triple to put Leesburg on the board. The very next batter, second baseman Gabriel...

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LEESBURG - Fl, The Leesburg Lightning came out on top of an instant classic walk-off victory in 13 innings over the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs, 6-5, in game two of the FCSL Championship series on Saturday night at Pat Thomas Stadium-Buddy Lowe Field. The Bolts force a winner-take-all championship game three for the second-straight season.

A contest that took almost four and a half hours to complete, Lightning left fielder Michael Furry (St. Johns River) drew a game-winning bases loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the 13th to give Leesburg the win.

“I was looking for a pitch to hit, but it wasn’t in the zone and we won the game on the walk-off.” Furry said. “The game was competitive the whole way through, there were a few nail-biter innings but all that matters is that we came up with the win.”

Furry was the key to victory as he drove in the final three runs for the Lightning, with a two-run triple in the sixth and the winning walk in the 13th. He finished the...

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SANFORD, Fla - The Leesburg Lightning fall to the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs, 6-1, in game one of the championship series on Friday night at Sanford Memorial Stadium. Leesburg will need to win game two to force a game three and keep its championship hopes alive. 

The Lightning would never recover from an early 3-0 deficit in the first inning as Winter Park shortstop Dale Thomas (Florida) belted a two-run homer to left center field followed by a sacrifice-fly from extra-hitter Brayden Calise (Louisville) off Leesburg starting pitcher Layton Perry (Jacksonville).

Perry responded with four scoreless innings, finishing his final outing of the summer with three runs on five hits in five frames. He would be given the loss to drop his record to 3-2.

The only run that Leesburg would score came in the top of the third when first baseman Noah Best (Birmingham Southern) poked an RBI single into left field that scored center fielder Austin Brinling (North Florida).

The Diamond...

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LEESBURG, Fla - The Leesburg Lightning are headed to their third-straight FCSL Championship Series after defeating the Sanford River Rats, 6-3, in the deciding game three of the semi-final series. 

Trailing by a run with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third, Leesburg caught a break when Sanford’s starting pitcher would commit back-to-back balks to score a pair of runs and give Leesburg a 2-1 lead they would never lose. 

For the second straight contest, Leesburg turned their deficit into a lead and never let it out of their grasp. 

Three runs in the final four innings at the plate would help Leesburg coast to a three-run victory. Right fielder Danny Cervantes (Southeastern) helped out in the fifth with an RBI single to left field to give the Bolts a decisive 4-1 lead. 

Cervantes would add the final run in the seventh inning as he doubled, stole third base and scored on a passed ball, single-handedly manufacturing a run in a matter of...

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