Box Score 

LEESBURG, Fla-- In a back and forth game at Pat Thomas Stadium, The Seminole County Scorpions fell late to the Leesburg Lightning, 8-4. Cage Cox (Valdosta State) hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the eighth inning to seal it for Leesburg. 

Quinton Martinez (Appalachian State) took the ball for the Scorpions and pitched well in his three innings of work. Leesburg threatened with runners on the corners in the first inning, and runners on second and third in the second inning, but Martinez was able to buckle down and work his way out of the jams.

The Lightning broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Scorpions relief pitcher Ethan Koehler (Valdosta State) issued three consecutive walks, Sean Mootry (Georgia Gwinnett) scored on an RBI fielder’s choice hit by Mike Rocco (Ohio Northern) that gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead. Leesburg still had the bases loaded in the inning with two outs, but Jarrett Backus (King College) popped out in the infield to end the inning. 

Seminole County answered right back at the top of the fifth. Brooks Rikeman (Jacksonville) led off with a walk and advanced all the way to third base after a stolen base and wild pitch. Topher Grant (Lenoir-Rhyne) then stepped in and hit an RBI groundout to tie the game at 1-1. 

Leesburg took the lead right back in the bottom of the sixth inning. The inning started with back-to-back walks to Wyatt Elbe (Maryville) Tucker Horsley (North Florida). Elbe moved to third on a sacrifice fly and came home to score on a wild pitch which gave the Lightning a 2-0 advantage. Two more runs came home in the inning after a bases-loaded walk and a fielder’s choice to make it 4-1. 

The Scorpions kept battling and were back in it at the top of the seventh inning. After Josh Reynolds (Embry-Riddle) and Rikeman led off with walks, Jeremy Gunter (Jacksonville) stepped in and moved the runners into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Reynolds then scored from third on a wild pitch, and Rikeman came around to score on a single from Grant to left field to narrow the gap at 4-3. 

Seminole County tied it at 4-4 in the eighth on an RBI sacrifice fly from Reynolds. The ball was hit into shallow right field in foul ground, and the first baseman Mootry made the catch, but the runner coming home from third, Mike Christopoulos (Valdosta State) avoided the tag at the plate. 

At the bottom of the eighth, Cox hit a go-ahead three-run home run deep to right-center- field to break the tie at 7-4. The Lightning added one more after Mootry scored from second base on a Scorpions error to make it 8-4. Leesburg hung on to win after Seminole County went down in order in the ninth. 

Although Seminole County lost the two of three games in this series with the Lightning, they competed and had a chance to win the last two. The loss Wednesday moved their record to 4-19 on the season. Thursday at noon, the Scorpions travel to Lake Minneola High School to face off against the Winter Garden Squeeze. Head coach Jeff Lemon was happy with how his team competed against the Lightning. 

“The entire series was good games back and forth,” said Lemon. “I like the way we are playing, we are not giving up an continuing to compete. That’s the biggest thing, guys could shut it down at this point of the summer, but our guys are looking to compete.” 

Matt McClure (Penn State)