Lightning Homers Its Way Past Squeeze

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. -- The Leesburg Lightning (14-17) travelled to Lake Minneola High School to face the Winter Garden Squeeze (4-25-1) in a scheduled double-header that turned into a single nine-inning game.

The four hour delay did not phase Lightning right fielder Cage Cox (Valdosta State), as he hit a mammoth three-run home run that landed way past the right field wall. The homer gave the Bolts a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. 

In the third, Parker Pillsbury (Chipola) hit a laser over the center field wall for a leadoff home run that gave the Lightning a 4-0 lead. Tate Mathis (North Alabama) tried to make it back-to-back jacks, but Winter Garden centerfielder Justin Holmes (Seminole State) made an outstanding catch to rob Mathis of a home run.

The home run barrage continued for Leesburg in the sixth, as Cox connected for his second homer of the game, his eighth of the season. The home runs put him in second place in the Florida League for home runs. 

The seventh inning was much kinder to Mathis, who avenged the robbery of his would-be home run in the seventh with a two-run home run, his first of the summer. Mathis’s homer gave the Lightning a 7-0 advantage.

The Lightning completed the run-rule victory in the eighth, when Jarrett Backus (King College) singled home a run and Tanner Clark (North Florida) put the Bolts in double digits with a two-run home run. 

The score would hold, and the Lightning would nab a 10-0 win.

The Lightning got solid pitching on Thursday night, with Dylan Kelley being fantastic on the mound. Kelley threw six shutout innings with seven strikeouts. 

Lightning manager Rich Billings said Kelley’s performance might have been the best start of the year from a Lightning starting pitcher. “Dylan gave us a great start tonight,” Billings said. “It was maybe the best start we’ve had all year. Josh Wilson and De’Andre Knight were great as well. We will need that down the stretch.”

The Lightning hit five home runs and surrendered zero runs in a dominating win. “It was our most dominant win of the season,” Billings said. “Obviously the offense was great, but we got great pitching and defense too. It was a really good win for us.”

Jaxon Peebles (Alabama)

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