Offensive Woes Plague Lightning In Loss To The Squeeze

LEESBURG, Fla.-The Leesburg Lightning (2-3) struggled offensively and dropped their second consecutive game Tuesday night in a 7-2 loss to the Winter Garden Squeeze (4-1).

The Lightning only managed five hits, in what was another disappointing offensive output in front of another huge crowd at Pat Thomas Stadium. 

“There’s not a lot of changes offensively I can make right now with the depth that we have,” Lightning Head Coach Rich Billings said. “We have more guys coming, so we’ll get where we need to be.”

Leesburg found themselves in a hole early on, as the Squeeze gained a 6-2 lead after four innings of play. 

This has been a common theme for the Lightning, as outside of their two wins, they have fallen behind early and failed to have the offensive output to make a comeback effort. 

“We mave to start being more aggressive on the bases early on,” Billings said. “A little more small-ball early on might be something we look into going forward.”

Even with the deficit, the Lightning had very strong performances out of the bullpen once again, this time from Danny Rodriguez (Undecided), Clayton Boroski (North Florida), Dustin Dunlap (Mars Hill), and Blake Tipmore (Erskine) outside of a solo home run given up to start the seventh inning by Rodriguez that would extend the Winter Garden lead to 7-2, which they would never relinquish. 

“I think that the bullpen and pitching is going to be one of our strong suits this year,” Billings said. “Right now it’s about making sure we don’t get those guys into too much trouble in the first place.”

The Lightning will look to bounce back with a win on the road against the league-leading Sanford River Rats (5-0). First pitch is set for 6:30 PM on Thursday at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

(Carter Mansfield, Austin Peay State University)

Carter Mansfield - 06/07/23 2:41am

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