Boxscore

LEESBURG, Fla. (Aug. 3, 2018) – A win or go home situation for both teams in game three between the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs and the Leesburg Lightning needed extra innings to decide who would move on.  In the end, Winter Park pulled out the upset over the top seeded Lightning 7-6 in a thrilling 11 innings to earn a trip to the FCSL Championship.

The first pitch of the game hit Winter Park’s Robbie Scott (Lake Sumter) as he took a pitch off the back and immediately stole second base on the next pitch.  From there Chandler Robertson (UCF) hit an infield single followed by an RBI groundout from Tyler Osik (UCF) to give the Diamond Dawgs a 1-0 lead after the first inning.

Turner Scruggs (Winthrop) got the start on the hill and was cruising through three innings.  In the top of the fourth inning he allowed a leadoff walk followed by a one out single.  On the single, Scruggs went to back up home plate and rolled his ankle in doing so and didn’t appear to perform the same after that.  He proceed to hit the next batter to load the bases and then walk in a run to tie the game.  Leesburg added four more to push their lead to 5-1.

Winter Park would scratch a run back in the top of the fifth inning as Scott would leadoff with a single and eventually score on an error to make it 5-2.  The bats began to buzz for the Diamond Dawgs as they attempted to battle back.

The bases were left loaded by Winter Park in the sixth inning, but the Diamond Dawgs converted in the seventh as two runs would climb aboard before Cristian Rivera (Webber International) blasted one over the right field score board to tie the game with one swing at 5-5.  Rivera has been said to have sneaky pop but there was nothing sneaky about how hard he crushed that ball.  That was the first home run that Winter Park has hit at Leesburg’s ballpark this season.

“In my mind, I told myself my summer isn’t finished yet,” said Rivera, “It was a great moment; he threw me a first pitch slider for a ball so I knew my pitch was coming.  It was a fastball right there and I put a good swing on it.”

AJ Chacon (Undecided) came in relief of Scruggs in that fourth inning and pitched all the way through the tenth inning, that’s 6.2 innings pitched, his longest outing of the season.  It was his best one and it couldn’t have come at a better time for Winter Park as after Rivera’s homer in the top of the seventh, Chacon would retire the next six Leesburg hitters.

“I was trying to stay relaxed, keep my composure and focus on the mental aspect of the game” said Chacon, “My curveball was looking pretty good, I started a lot of hitters with that and would then go to my cutter, which complimented my fastball.”

Chacon ran into a little bit of trouble in the bottom of the ninth as things got intense.  A leadoff walk would be erased on a fielder’s choice after a pop up.  With two down, the next two runners reached to load the bases.  Chacon was able to get Leesburg’s best hitter to roll into a groundout to escape the jam and send the game to extra innings.

“AJ was the key to us being able to win this game,” said manager Chuck Schall, “He kept us right there when we were down 5-1.”

Neither team really got anything going in the tenth inning, but it was in the eleventh inning where the Diamond Dawgs did the damage.  With one out, Brian Ellis (FGCU) drew a walk and was replaced with pitcher Brooks Brophy (Alabama Huntsville) as a pinch runner.  For the second consecutive night, a pitcher stole a base, as Brophy beat the throw with a graceful head first slide.

“Their pitcher was taking a long time to get to the plate,” said Brophy, “When we got to two outs, coach just said go so I got a bigger lead than normal and got a good jump to beat the throw.”

The momentum picked up from there as with two outs, Rivera was intentionally walked to put runners at first and second.  Jeff Korte (Illinois) made Leesburg pay for that as he ripped a double just over the left fielder’s head to give Winter Park a 7-5 lead.  That was Korte’s fourth double of the postseason.  Brophy would come across as the go ahead run and Rivera added the insurance.  Brophy would stay in the game and play first base in the bottom half of the inning as the first pitcher to play a position for Winter Park this season.

Leesburg didn’t go away without a fight, as they found the bases loaded with one out down by two runs. That first out was scooped out of the dirt by Brophy, something that maybe nobody in the stands expected.  Gage Warren (Daytona State) came in and got a Leesburg batter to hit a sacrifice fly to center field.  The next batter also flew out to center field, sending the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs to the championship as they upset Leesburg on their home field 7-6 in 11 innings.

“We got some really great performances today from some of our guys,” said Schall, “There were so many cool things that happened out there tonight.  Third year in the league for Rivera…it could’ve been his last game but he hits a three run bomb to tie it up.  Putting Brophy out there to pinch run and score the go ahead run and the nice play at first.”

The Diamond Dawgs were 0-16 after trailing through six innings of play, and they picked the perfect time for their first comeback victory of the season.  With their backs against the walls for two consecutive nights, Winter Park responded like they never had before as everyone on the team contributed to the win.

“They were having fun out there,” said Schall, “Those guys expected to win, we were just here hoping to hang with them and that lets us play a little looser in that situation.”

Winter Park advances to play a three-game series for the FCSL Championship against the Deland Suns who were the number two seed heading into the playoffs, giving them home field advantage.  Game one of the championship series takes place on Saturday night in Deland as the Diamond Dawgs have momentum on their side.  Brooks Brophy will start for Winter Park in game one.

Ken Landis (UCF)