The Lightning Bats Come Alive Yet Again in an 8-6 Victory Over the Squeeze

Leesburg, Fla- The Lightning picked up their first win at home this summer thanks to the help of better pitching and another stellar offensive game. Coach Billings used six different pitchers to get the job done against a competitive Squeeze offense. 
 
Lightning RHP Tanner Walker and Squeeze RHP Andrew Furey both pitched scoreless 1st and 2nd innings before the bats came alive. A balk from Walker plated the first run for the squeeze to give them an early 1-0 lead. Before the bottom of the 3rd, Furey sat down 6 straight batters before the Lightning got their first hit off the bat of C Trey Craft. SS Ledger Pleasant then drove in the first Leesburg run off a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 1-1. 
 
Later in 5th, Zacharias Walker advanced to first after an error by 1B Juan Orozco which saw Zackary Allen score to give the Squeeze a 2-1 lead. The Lightning would quickly answer with back-to-back RBI singles from CF Eli Thurmond and extra hitter Riley Fitzgerald gave the team a 3-2 lead. 
 
Winter Garden got a taste of its own medicine in the 6th after a balk from RHP Carter Daniel scored 2B Ryan Jenkins to extend the Lightning lead to 4-2. Two batters later, Reid Snider’s groundout to the shortstop made it 5-2 after extra hitter Charlie Keller came around to score. 
 
In the 7th, the Squeeze cut the lead to one run thanks to an RBI double off the bat of Brady White which put the score at 5-4 heading to the stretch. Leesburg would get those runs back and some when two wild pitches scored Eli Thurmond and Riley Fitzgerald before an RBI single from Ryan Jenkins extended the lead to 8-4. 
 
The Squeeze would not go down quietly though, as they tacked on two more runs in the 8th from an RBI single and wild pitch put the score at 8-6 heading to the 9th. 
 
Flamethrower RHP Jose Paniagua came back on to pitch the 9th after retiring the Squeeze the inning before. The righty got a first pitch pop out before striking out the final two batters giving the Lightning the 8-6 victory. 
 
Eli Thurmond’s two hit game helped give Leesburg its second win of the season giving him six hits in the first four games. 
 
“I was just seeing good pitches, getting good pitches to hit,” said CF Eli Thurmond. “Just trying to get good tempo off the pitcher, trying to time him up pretty good, make sure I'm getting good jumps and just going hard, running hard, hustling.” 
 
After the game, Coach Billings was pleased with the better performance he saw from his pitching staff and described how he will be using pitchers in each game going forward.
 
“I think a lot of it has to do with the guys getting a little more comfortable,” said Billings. “I think each time they get out there, that confidence grows a little bit and it was nice to see the pitchers have some success tonight. You’re going to see 5-6 arms every game so that's kind of the way we’re going to run it, I don’t like running guys pitch counts way up in the summertime and I want them to be able to throw multiple times in a week” 
 
The Lightning will look to make it three straight wins on Tuesday June 3rd against the Squeeze in Winter Garden. First pitch at Horizon High School is set for 7 p.m.

Vic Maslia (Syracuse University)

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