Leesburg Lightning

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Lightning Close Out Regular Season By Splitting Doubleheader With Sanford

Lightning Close Out Regular Season By Splitting Doubleheader With Sanford

Leesburg, FL – The Leesburg Lightning (28-13) closed out the 2018 regular season with a win in game two of a doubleheader against the Sanford River Rats (18-20-1) after dropping the first game to the Rats.

Resilience. That’s what Lightning Head Coach Rich Billings said stuck out to him most about his team this season. “The second half (of the season) we had a ton of injuries, we had some guys leave but they battled through a lot of adversity and they still did pretty well even with all the adversity that they went through,” said Billings, who no doubt is proud of his team’s effort so far this summer. “Some guys stepped in and stepped up and kind of carried us through the second half of the season. It’s been awesome to watch that. The resiliency of this team has been very impressive.”

Game 1

The Lightning took an early lead, scoring in the first inning like they have many times this season. Luke Brown (Western Kentucky) and Tucker Rayburn (Florida A&M) sandwiched singles around a Jose Crisostomo (Miami Dade) strikeout to put two on and one out for Frank Niemann (Tulane). Niemann was able to drive in Brown with a sacrifice fly, but Rayburn ended up stranded on second base.

Sanford, acting as the home team for game one, got one run back in the bottom half of the first, then proceeded to add one run each in the second and third innings to take a 3-1 lead. Jackson Muldowney (Indian River State) and Cole Warken (Undecided) spearheaded the offensive attack, as both Sanford players collected RBIs in the early parts of the seven-inning game. The Rats were in a good position to add even more runs to their total in the third inning with runners on first and second and just one out, but Lightning reliever William Walter (Florida A&M) made a fantastic play on the mound, snatching a Jackson Muldowney liner out of the air and doubling Cole Warken off of first to end the inning.

A bases-loaded single in the fifth inning scored three more for Sanford, and the Lightning were unable to muster any runs to counter, dropping game one. The 6-1 win locked the River Rats in as the three seed in the Florida League playoffs and rendered game two essentially meaningless, with Leesburg already having clinched the one seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Game 2

The Lightning raced out in front once again, scoring once in the second and once in the third to take a 2-0 lead. Tucker Rayburn reached first and second on a pair of River Rats errors before advancing to third on a Jose Crisostomo groundout. With Sean Mootrey (Georgia Gwinnett) at the plate, Sanford starter Jeremy Peel (St Leo) sent a wild pitch past catcher Josh Crouch (UCF), scoring Rayburn for the first run of the game.

The second run of the game came one inning later when Luke Brown hit an infield single off of the first base bag with Walker McCleney (Alabama) on second base. The ball popped up off of the base and over the head of first baseman Alex Dickinson (Princeton), who had trouble finding while McCleney motored around third and came home to make it 2-0 Leesburg.

The Lightning added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, and Pedro Reyes-Ruiz (Miami Dade) closed out a shutout with a flawless seventh inning to close out the regular season with a Lightning win, 3-0.

Leesburg put together a regular season to remember, including the best record in the league, the top seed in the playoffs and the longest winning streak in league history. None of that means anything according to Coach Billings if they can’t top it all off with a league championship. “It was all fun and the regular season was awesome, to experience that and watch these guys play every single day,” Billings said. “Without a league championship, I don’t think it means quite as much. I don’t want to say it doesn’t mean anything, but it definitely doesn’t mean as much.”

Leesburg will kick off their quest for a third league championship on July 31 against the winner of the #4 vs #5 play-in game, either the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs or Seminole County Scorpions.

Matt Holzapfel (Elon University)

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Batting

Name AB R H RBI BB SO
Brown, lf 3 1 1 0 0 0
Crisostomo, rf 3 0 1 0 0 2
Rayburn, 2b 3 0 2 0 0 0
Niemann, dh 2 0 0 1 0 1
Prather, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0
McCleney, cf 3 0 1 0 0 1
Mootrey, 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0
Wiseman, 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1
Bogart, c 1 0 0 0 1 0
Hinton, p 0 0 0 0 0 0
Walter, p 0 0 0 0 0 0
Simple, p 0 0 0 0 0 0

Batting

RBI - Niemann

GDP - Prather, Wiseman

Baserunning

CS - McCleney

Fielding

E - Crisostomo

Pitching

Name IP H R ER BB SO
Hinton, L 2.1 7 3 3 2 0
Walter 2.0 3 3 2 2 1
Simple 1.2 2 0 0 0 1

Wild Pitches - Hinton 2

Pitches/Strikes - Hinton 61/28, Walter 31/17, Simple 21/15

Groundouts/Flyouts - Hinton 4/2, Walter 1/2, Simple 1/2

Batters Faced - Hinton 15, Walter 9, Simple 6

Batting

Name AB R H RBI BB SO
Morrill, 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1
Labosky, 3b 4 0 2 0 0 1
Crouch, dh 4 1 1 0 0 0
Harcom, ss 2 2 2 0 1 0
Benniefield, lf 2 1 1 1 1 0
Cande, rf 1 1 0 0 2 0
Warken, c 3 1 3 3 0 0
Muldowney, 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0
Prewett, cf 3 0 1 0 0 0
Meyer, p 0 0 0 0 0 0

Batting

2B - Muldowney

RBI - Benniefield, Warken 3, Muldowney

GDP - Morrill

Baserunning

SB - Harcom, Benniefield

Pitching

Name IP H R ER BB SO
Meyer, W 7.0 7 1 1 1 5

Pitches/Strikes - Meyer 81/56

Groundouts/Flyouts - Meyer 3/10

Batters Faced - Meyer 26

Lightning

Batting

Name AB R H RBI BB SO
Brown, lf 3 1 1 0 0 0
Crisostomo, rf 3 0 1 0 0 2
Rayburn, 2b 3 0 2 0 0 0
Niemann, dh 2 0 0 1 0 1
Prather, ss 3 0 0 0 0 0
McCleney, cf 3 0 1 0 0 1
Mootrey, 1b 3 0 1 0 0 0
Wiseman, 3b 3 0 1 0 0 1
Bogart, c 1 0 0 0 1 0
Hinton, p 0 0 0 0 0 0
Walter, p 0 0 0 0 0 0
Simple, p 0 0 0 0 0 0

Batting

RBI - Niemann

GDP - Prather, Wiseman

Baserunning

CS - McCleney

Fielding

E - Crisostomo

Pitching

Name IP H R ER BB SO
Hinton, L 2.1 7 3 3 2 0
Walter 2.0 3 3 2 2 1
Simple 1.2 2 0 0 0 1

Wild Pitches - Hinton 2

Pitches/Strikes - Hinton 61/28, Walter 31/17, Simple 21/15

Groundouts/Flyouts - Hinton 4/2, Walter 1/2, Simple 1/2

Batters Faced - Hinton 15, Walter 9, Simple 6

River Rats

Batting

Name AB R H RBI BB SO
Morrill, 2b 4 0 1 0 0 1
Labosky, 3b 4 0 2 0 0 1
Crouch, dh 4 1 1 0 0 0
Harcom, ss 2 2 2 0 1 0
Benniefield, lf 2 1 1 1 1 0
Cande, rf 1 1 0 0 2 0
Warken, c 3 1 3 3 0 0
Muldowney, 1b 3 0 1 1 0 0
Prewett, cf 3 0 1 0 0 0
Meyer, p 0 0 0 0 0 0

Batting

2B - Muldowney

RBI - Benniefield, Warken 3, Muldowney

GDP - Morrill

Baserunning

SB - Harcom, Benniefield

Pitching

Name IP H R ER BB SO
Meyer, W 7.0 7 1 1 1 5

Pitches/Strikes - Meyer 81/56

Groundouts/Flyouts - Meyer 3/10

Batters Faced - Meyer 26

Scoring Plays

Top 1st

Frank Niemann flied out to lf, SF, RBI. Luke Brown scored.

Bottom 1st

Jonnie Benniefield singled through the right side, advanced to second on the throw, RBI. Michael Harcom advanced to third. Josh Crouch scored.

Bottom 2nd

Jackson Muldowney doubled to right center, out at third rf to 2b to 3b, RBI. Cole Warken scored.

Bottom 3rd

Cole Warken singled to left center, RBI. Jarrod Cande advanced to second. Michael Harcom scored.

Bottom 5th

Cole Warken singled to right field, advanced to second on a throwing error by rf, 2 RBI. Jarrod Cande scored, unearned. Jonnie Benniefield scored. Michael Harcom scored.

All Plays

Top 1st

Luke Brown singled to shortstop.
Jose Crisostomo struck out swinging. 1 out
Tucker Rayburn singled to right center, advanced to second on the throw. Luke Brown advanced to third.
Frank Niemann flied out to lf, SF, RBI. Luke Brown scored. 2 out
Jay Prather flied out to cf. 3 out

Bottom 1st

Collin Morrill out at first 1b to p. 1 out
Andrew Labosky out at first 1b to p. 2 out
Josh Crouch singled to left field.
Michael Harcom walked. Josh Crouch advanced to second.
Michael Harcom advanced to second on a wild pitch. Josh Crouch advanced to third on a wild pitch.
Jonnie Benniefield singled through the right side, advanced to second on the throw, RBI. Michael Harcom advanced to third. Josh Crouch scored.
Jarrod Cande flied out to 2b. 3 out

Top 2nd

Walker McCleney struck out looking. 1 out
Sean Mootrey flied out to lf. 2 out
Matthew Wiseman singled to center field.
Garrett Bogart lined out to rf. 3 out

Bottom 2nd

Cole Warken singled to shortstop.
Jackson Muldowney doubled to right center, out at third rf to 2b to 3b, RBI. Cole Warken scored. 1 out
Darien Prewett grounded out to ss up the middle. 2 out
Collin Morrill singled to center field.
Andrew Labosky singled to left field. Collin Morrill advanced to second.
Josh Crouch out at first 1b to p. 3 out

Top 3rd

Luke Brown flied out to ss. 1 out
Jose Crisostomo singled to left center.
Tucker Rayburn lined out to cf. 2 out
Frank Niemann struck out swinging. 3 out

Bottom 3rd

Michael Harcom singled through the left side.
Michael Harcom advanced to second on a wild pitch.
Jonnie Benniefield lined out to cf. 1 out
Jarrod Cande walked.
William Walter replaces Ronny Hinton at pitcher.
Cole Warken singled to left center, RBI. Jarrod Cande advanced to second. Michael Harcom scored.
Jackson Muldowney lined into double play p to 1b. Cole Warken out on the play. 3 out

Top 4th

Jay Prather flied out to lf. 1 out
Walker McCleney singled to center field.
Walker McCleney out at second c to 2b, caught stealing. 2 out
Sean Mootrey grounded out to 3b. 3 out

Bottom 4th

Darien Prewett singled to left field.
Collin Morrill grounded into double play 2b to ss to 1b. Darien Prewett out on the play. 2 out
Andrew Labosky struck out swinging. 3 out

Top 5th

Matthew Wiseman struck out looking. 1 out
Garrett Bogart walked.
Luke Brown flied out to ss. 2 out
Jose Crisostomo struck out looking. 3 out

Bottom 5th

Josh Crouch flied out to rf to right center. 1 out
Michael Harcom singled to left field.
Jonnie Benniefield walked. Michael Harcom advanced to second.
Jonnie Benniefield stole second. Michael Harcom stole third.
Jarrod Cande walked.
Aaron Simple replaces William Walter at pitcher.
Cole Warken singled to right field, advanced to second on a throwing error by rf, 2 RBI. Jarrod Cande scored, unearned. Jonnie Benniefield scored. Michael Harcom scored.
Jackson Muldowney popped up to ss. 2 out
Darien Prewett grounded out to ss. 3 out

Top 6th

Tucker Rayburn singled through the right side.
Frank Niemann flied out to rf. 1 out
Jay Prather grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b. Tucker Rayburn out on the play. 3 out

Bottom 6th

Collin Morrill struck out swinging. 1 out
Andrew Labosky singled to right field.
Andrew Labosky out at first p to 1b, picked off. 2 out
Josh Crouch flied out to 2b. 3 out

Top 7th

Walker McCleney flied out to ss. 1 out
Sean Mootrey singled to left field.
Matthew Wiseman grounded into double play ss to 2b to 1b. Sean Mootrey out on the play. 3 out