Lightning Comeback Shocks Dawgs in Semifinal Sweep

LEESBURG, Fla.- In one of the wildest wins you will ever see, the Leesburg Lightning advanced to their fourth consecutive Florida League Championship Series with a 6-5 victory to complete a semifinal series sweep over the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs. 

The first eight innings of the game were played following a two-hour rain delay on Wednesday night, and that proved to be a major factor in the ballgame, as the Lightning were down to their final three outs and were being no-hit going into the top of the ninth inning, trailing 2-1. A strict curfew at Alfond Stadium, the home of the Diamond Dawgs, caused the game to be suspended until Thursday. 

So after an abysmal offensive performance on Wednesday night, this gave the Lightning the chance to regroup, rest, and compose themselves for a full day before heading into a top of the ninth inning, needing one run to keep their game alive with only three outs to work with. 

This pause ended up being just the remedy the Leesburg offense needed. 

It would be no easy task however, as Winter Park brought in Nick Jennings (St. Leo) to try and close it out. Jennings has been the best statistical pitcher in the Florida League this season, not giving up a run on the entire season before entering the game. 

Leesburg got the resumption started with a single and a stolen base from Michael Furry (St. Johns River State), a crack in Jennings’ armor that proved to be crucial, as Drew Leinenbach followed that up with an RBI single to tie the game at 2-2. 

“Baseball can be funny in the way that we went from getting no-hit yesterday to getting multiple hits and scoring runs against one of the best pitchers in our league,” Leesburg Lightning Head Coach Rich Billings said. “It really felt like we lost that game when we were leaving the ballpark last night, but I tried to emphasize to our guys that it wasn’t over and they still had to get us out three more times.”

Two strikeouts in the bottom half of the ninth inning from Tyler Donay (Embry-Riddle) sent the game to extra innings. 

The Lightning offense exploded in the tenth inning, scoring four runs, each of which would prove to be extremely valuable later on. 

Bunt singles from Joseph Massa (Samford) and Austin Brinling (South Carolina) shifted the momentum even more towards Leesburg’s dugout, before RBI singles from Logan Chapman (Georgia Tech) and Tyler Gerteisen (North Florida) blew the doors open on the inning, giving the Lightning a 6-2 lead. 

Coach Billings and the Lightning tried to ride it out with Donay in the tenth, but the long break from the offensive outburst proved to have an effect on the pitcher’s sharpness, as he walked the first three batters of the bottom of the tenth consecutively. Donay handed the ball over to Jayson Chaffee (Northwest Florida State), and while he was able to retire the first two batters he faced on a strikeout and a sacrifice fly, he too was unable to consistently find the strike zone, as he gave up a single, walk, and hit by pitch consecutively.

This cut the Lightning lead to 6-5, and needing just one more out to advance to the championship series, Coach Billings turned to Evan Loeser (North Greeneville) to get that elusive final out.

Loeser did everything he needed to and more, striking out Kade Faircloth (Newberry) on three pitches to send Pat Thomas Stadium into a frenzy and the Lightning to their fourth consecutive Florida League Championship Series.

“Loeser is just a confident competitor, I knew what we were going to get out of him in that situation and he delivered,” Billings said. “You just saw the resilience of our team as a whole, they never quit and it was really refreshing to see that find from them.”

The Lightning will face the Winter Garden Squeeze in the finals. The Lightning have been fairly successful against the Squeeze this season, holding a 4-3 record in the seven matchups between the two teams. 

Game one of the series will be a home game for the Lightning, and it will take place on Saturday night at Pat Thomas Stadium. First pitch is set for 7 PM. 

(Carter Mansfield, Austin Peay State University)

Carter Mansfield - 07/27/23 8:52pm

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