The Bolt Breakdown (6/10-6/15): The Lightning Look To Repeat 4-Win Week
The Lightning finished out the first full week of the FCSL season strong, grabbing 4 out of 5 this past week, including a sweep over the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs.
This week incoming, Leesburg will play two teams who are right in the thick of things for the top spot in the FCSL, beginning a two-game set tonight against the Orlando Snappers and finishing out the week against the DeLand Suns, the first meetings between both teams here in 2024.
Looking Back
It was quite a successful week for Leesburg, with a full slate of games for the club.
The team started off with a bang on Monday, grabbing a 6-3 victory over the Winter Garden Squeeze, featuring three multi-hit performances from Collin Priest, Jordy Oriach, and Ty Denton in the game, including the first team home run of the season off of Collin Priest.
Winter Garden would end up splitting the quick set, shutting down Leesburg offensively, and fending off a late-game attack from the Lightning offense to take a 6-3 win over the Bolts.
Leesburg would respond quickly, though, following an off-day and a rainout on Thursday, taking Game 1 of the three-game series over the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs, which saw Gabe Santiago break the team's all-time run record and the league record for most stolen bases.
That same success would continue into Saturday's doubleheader, which saw Leesburg come from behind off of two 2-run homers from Orlando Pena (Game 1) and Collin Priest (Game 2) to take the series from Winter Park.
The pitching staff also brought a lot of success this past week, ringing in stellar outings from Ryland Bozenhard and Zack Bennett on Saturday night.
Looking Ahead
This week, the Lightning ring in two series against teams who are in the thick of things for the top spots in the FCSL.
The Snappers dropped three straight over the weekend to the Sanford River Rats as they look to try and get back into the rhythm in a home-and-home series starting tonight at 7 p.m. EST.
Offensively, Luke Dickerson has hit the ball very well to start the season, holding over a.500 AVG on the season, 7 for 13 at the plate. Kevin Smith has also been very impressive at the plate so far this season, driving in six RBIs for the Snappers across eight games this season.
On the mound, Todd Rushing has been quite efficient, racking up 10 strikeouts in 2 appearances so far this season out of the bullpen.
The DeLand Suns are also right up there for the top spot in the FCSL, splitting their doubleheader on Saturday and tied for second in the league.
DeLand has found great success out of Judson Ceyanes, who is 9 for 25 and has driven in 4 RBIs this season. Aris Rivera has also provided some great production, which will be a great test against this Leesburg staff.
On the mound, the Suns have featured six pitchers with five or more strikeouts on the season and have seen great work out of their starters, Haro Baez and Austin Harford.