Lightning Strike Early, Hold on for 7-4 Win

DELAND, Fla. -- The Leesburg Lightning (6-8) travelled back to Melching Field at Conrad Park to wrap up its series versus the DeLand Suns (12-5).

The first two innings of the game were all Lightning. In the first, Max Law (North Florida) doubled home Cage Cox (Valdosta State) and gave the visitors an early 1-0 lead. The next batter, Tate Mathis (North Alabama) drove in Law on a single through the left side of the infield that increased the lead to 2-0.

The second inning saw the Lightning offense exploded for five runs. Leesburg made it 3-0 on a Parker Pillsbury (Chipola) RBI single up the middle. After a single from Cox, Law drove in his second and third runs of the night on a single that scored two and extended the Lightning lead to 5-0. Leesburg was not satisfied with that in the second, as Mathis recorded an RBI single and Law later scored on a wild pitch. After two, it was a 7-0 Lightning lead.

The game slowed down by a considerable margin from that point forward. Jeremiah Foster (North Carolina A&T) twirled an absolute gem for the Lightning. Foster tossed five scoreless, two-hit innings. He struck out eight and walked none.

Lightning head coach Rich Billings praises Foster’s performance after the game. “Jeremiah was awesome,” Billings said. “That’s just what we needed. That was as good as a start as we’ve gotten from one of our pitchers so far.”

Foster said he was just focused on pounding the zone. “I felt good out there,” Foster said. “The no walks is the most important thing for me. The eight strikeouts is cool, but I’m not a guy that throws really hard so I have to command my pitches.”

Both clubs were kept off the board until the bottom of the seventh, when the Suns got on the board with an RBI groundout that made it 7-1. In the home half of the eight, DeLand made the contest interesting when Mark Townsend (Stetson) smashed a towering home run over the right field wall to cut the Lightning’s deficit to 7-4 after eight innings.

The Lightning sent Amir Asghar (undecided) to the mound in a save situation to attempt to close out the Suns.

Asghar worked a scoreless inning to close out DeLand for a 7-4 win and a second straight triumph for Leesburg.

Billings said the team jumped on the Suns early, then took the foot off the gas. “That’s probably a sign of a little immaturity,” Billings said. “We have to stay on them. We let up a bit. We still had some good at bats and competed but we have to continue to push runs across.”

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