WINTER PARK, Fla.- The Diamond Dawgs came into the all-star break knowing that they would have to duplicate their first-half success, in order to finish the year out strong. So far, so good. Winter Park completed the series and season sweep of the Winter Garden Squeeze on Wednesday night with a 11-1 victory. The offense continues to be the best in the league and starter Jaylyn Whitehead (UCF) just becomes another weapon in the Dawgs pitching arsenal.

Winter Park struck first in the opening inning as Gerardo Miranda (North Alabama) drove home Adarius Myers (La Tech) with a sacrifice fly for the first run of the ballgame. Heading into the second inning, all-star Luis Cabrera drove a fastball over the left-field wall for his second home run and giving the Dawgs a 2-0 lead.

“I wanted to have the approach to attack the baseball,” Cabrera said, “He threw me a first-pitch fastball and I didn’t miss.”

The Dawgs added three more runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by RBI singled from Miranda and Cabrera to make it 5-0. Fast-forward to bottom of the fourth inning and the Dawgs extended their lead to 7-0, with RBI singles from Reidy and once again from Miranda.

When Winter Garden scored one in the top of the seventh, the Dawgs roared back four runs including the walk-off single off the bat of Myers to seal the 11-1 victory.

While the offense returned to their explosive ways, the pitching staff might have just added another weapon to its staff in the form of left-hander Jaylyn Whitehead. Whitehead tossed five innings of shut out ball. The UCF southpaw struck out four while only allowing three hits.

The Dawgs got off the start they wanted for the second half and catcher Gerardo Miranda says this first series was big step in the right direction.

“This lets us know that we have our minds right”, Miranda said, “We will continue to employ that same mindset as we finish this season and into the playoffs.”

Winter Park returns home on Thursday as they play host to Leesburg in the first game of a three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00 PM ET.

Box Score

Bryce Koon