The Leesburg Lightning Keeps The Offense Hot in Historic Home Opener Victory, 25-3

It was a historic night in Leesburg for the Lightning, scoring a team record 25 runs in the team's win over the Sanford River Rats.

The offensive outpour began in the 2nd inning for Leesburg, posting a 6 spot in the bottom half of the inning off of four RBI singles from Riley Fitzgerald, Ryan Jenkins, Jordy Oriach, and Keeton Burroughs, who came in for Orlando Pena following the 1st inning.

Three scoreless innings from Indian River State right-hander Jace Trautner catapulted the Bolts into the 4th, only allowing two hits through three. 

The Sanford River Rats would see some production from the bats, kicking off the top of the 4th with a leadoff homer by one of two extra hitters for the River Rats, Jalen Hairston. This would lead to two more runs coming into score later in the inning, but it came at no prevail. 

Between the 4th and 5th inning, the Lightning would tally 19 runs, including 4 that came off of walks and a stand-up triple from Drew Clymer. In this stretch, the Lightning would not only break the team's single-game run record but also its single-game walks record, finishing with 17 free passes for Leesburg. The 5th inning also saw the Lightning bat around the order twice, happening three times in total during the contest.

Zach Mizrahi, Tyler Donay, and Max Meyer would come in late in the game for the final 2.2 innings of work against Sanford, only allowing 1 hit and striking out three batters combined to shut the door on the River Rats in the 7th, taking the first two contests of the weekend series.

Jordy Oriach put together another strong performance, finishing 3-4 in the contest with 2 RBIs following a multi-hit performance in the season opener. 

"I'm just seeing the ball really well, man. It's just there's nothing to it. I just see the ball, react, and that's basically all from me." Oriach said post-game. 

Keeton Burroughs, Drew Clymer, James Strom, and Riley Fitzgerald would also finish with multi-hit performances, grabbing multiple RBIs in the lopsided victory.

"Yeah, we didn't do much wrong tonight, which was good to see," said Head Coach Rich Billings. "I was really proud of our guys, not just the way they played, but I think the professionalism that they showed tonight was really, really impressive. That probably stood out as much as anything to me, but we got to clicking on all cylinders tonight, and we got rolling."

It was a great home opener for the Lightning, one that Head Coach Rich Billings greatly appreciated.

"It was impressive," said Billings. "The fans never cease to amaze me. You know, when you think you've seen it all, they show up, and they fill the place more than you thought they could fill it. And that was really nice for our guys to see that and to feel the support from the community. You tell them what it's going to be like, and that exceeded every expectation that I had and probably that they had as well. So that was really nice. We appreciate the fans, and hopefully they'll come and pack it again."

The Lightning will get another chance to Pack the Pat on Saturday night when the team welcomes back the Sanford River Rats for the final game of this 3-game opening set for the 2024 season. First pitch is at 7 p.m. EST.

Return to News