Lightning fall to River Rats, 6-4

SANFORD, Fla. - The Leesburg Lightning (1-1) fell to the Sanford River Rats (1-1) by a score of 6-4 in a weather-shortened game on Sunday evening. The game was called in the top of the eighth inning due to lightning in the area and the final outcome was determined by the score at the end of the previous completed inning.

Leesburg opened the scoring in the top of the first inning when left-fielder Brett Moreland (Flagler College) hit a two-run double down the right-field line that scored Matt Singletary (Polk State College) and Jake Hanson (Flagler).

The Lightning maintained that two-run lead until the bottom of the third when the River Rats tied the score by scoring two runs of their own. Designated hitter Keith Curcio (Florida Southern College) hit a double that bounced off the right-field wall to drive in leadoff Alex Mendez (South Florida). Curcio then came around to score on a Sam Halpern (Barry University) groundout.

Sanford stretched the lead to 5-2 after scoring two runs in the fourth inning and one run in the fifth inning. In the fourth, Andrew Brodbeck (Flagler) beat out a double play to keep the inning alive and the next batter, Kevin Wortman (Florida Tech) hit a two-run home run to straight-away left-field. Nicolas Delerme (East Stroudsberg) hit a two-out single in the fifth to drive in Daniel Seeba (South Carolina Upstate).

The seventh inning, which would turn out to be the last inning of the game, certainly had its fair share of excitement. Leesburg cut the deficit to one run in the top half of the inning and then Sanford added a run of their own in the bottom part of the inning.

The Lightning scored their two seventh inning runs when Singletary hit a double off the left-field wall to drive in Wesley Sargent (Florida Gulf Coast) and Kyle Teaf (South Florida). The River Rats scored their run in the bottom half on a double steal when Delerme got himself in a rundown between first base and second base, allowing Halpern to score.

Leesburg scored two runs to tie the game in the top of the eighth inning and were threatening to score more runs as they had the bases loaded with just one out when the game had to be called due to weather.

The winning pitcher for Sanford was Spencer Hermann (North Florida). Hermann pitched 4.2 innings, giving up just two runs and two hits. He struck out six and walked five. The losing pitcher for the Lightning was Dylan Hathcock (UNC-Greensboro). Hathcock had five innings pitched and gave up five runs on eight hits, striking out four and walking just one.

The River Rats had nice performances from both Mendez and Delerme. Mendez went 3-for-4 at the plate, including a double, and scored a run. Delerme was 2-for-3 and had one RBI.

Singletary and Moreland both had two runs batted in for Leesburg.

The Lightning have an off-day on Monday and will be in action on Tuesday against the Orlando Monarchs at Buddy Lowe Field at Pat Thomas Stadium in Leesburg. The first pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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