By: Ryan Gonzalez

 

Our first week of the 2020 season is a wrap, and with that come our first Award Winners! Congratulations to Justin Farmer (River Rats) on winning the Player of the Week and to Carson Pillsbury (Storm) on winning the Pitcher of the Week!

 

FCSL PLAYER OF THE WEEK - SANFORD RIVER RATS

OF JUSTIN FARMER (Florida International) .455/.538/.909 | 5H/1 HR/2 2B/8 RBI/2 SB/2 BB

Farmer started off the season hot as he leads the league with 8 RBI’s. His game on July 1st alone against the Diamond Dawgs is a game that anybody would dream of having: 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, and five RBI’s.

 

FCSL PITCHER OF THE WEEK - LEESBURG STORM

RHP CARSON PILLSBURY (Santa Fe) 2-0, 4IP, 0R, 2H, 5K, 0BB

Carson's first action against collegiate competition was spectacular. He drew the Opening Day start and dominated the DeLand Suns, tossing two innings of scoreless ball and striking out four. He earned a second victory against the Mavericks with two more scoreless frames.

 

Although Farmer and Pillsbury are going home with the League Awards from the first week, there were plenty of other stand out players. Here are the Team Awards Winners, first on the offensive side.

 

TEAM OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

DELAND SUNS

1B JOE BURKE (Kentucky Wesleyan) .692/.692/.769 | 9H/3R/2 2B/5 RBI

Burke is back with the Suns for a third consecutive season, and he is a hitting machine. He has a hit in every game so far this summer, and he ranks first in the league in hits, third in batting average, and third in runs batted in

 

LEESBURG LIGHTNING

1B ALEJANDRO FIGUEREDO (Seminole State) .500/.643/.600 | 5H/5R/1 2B/5 RBI

Alejandro was the most electric batter in the Lightning order during opening week. His combination of patience, power and speed catalyzed the squad's remarkable 4-0 start. In Leesburg's comeback victory against Winter Garden, he laced an RBI single late to tie the game, and drew a walk to set up the walk-off by teammate Gabriel Rincones.

 

LEESBURG STORM

OF JEFF MEJIA JR (University of Maine) .636/.667/.636 | 7H/4R/4 RBI/ 2 SB

Mejia was the spark-plug of the league's third-best offense in week one. He was just short of unbeatable, leading the team in hits and average in addition to being an absolute menace on the base paths. Jeff collected multi-hit games in his team's first two contests including a 3 for 3 outburst against the Lightning.

 

ORLANDO SCORPIONS

OF ROBBY MARTIN (Florida State) .714/.700/.857 | 5H/3R/2SB/ 2RBI/2BB

In his first three games with the Scorpions, Martin posted an unreal slash line of .714/.700/.857 as Orlando went 2-1. The Seminole reached base in seven of his ten plate appearances, which included a 3-for-3 performance against the Leesburg Storm. Martin has reached base at least twice in each of his three appearances.

 

SANFORD MAVERICKS

C SEAN McARDLE (St. Johns River) .400/.400/.400 | 4H/1R/2 RBI

McArdle has been a bright spot for the Mavericks offense. He recorded four hits and two RBI's to lead the Mavericks in both categories.

 

SEMINOLE COUNTY LOGGERHEADS

2B TYRELL BREWER (Florida State) .500/.625/.500 | 3H/2RBI/3SB/2BB

In just 2 games with the Loggerheads, he has gotten on base 5 times in his 8 plate appearances. He also showed off his speed going 3-for-3 in stolen base attempts.

 

SEMINOLE COUNTY SNAPPERS

C GIOVANNY LORENZO (Stetson) .800/.833/1.000 | 4H/2 RBI/2R/1 2B/1 BB

In just 2 games of work, Lorenzo leads the league in batting average. He has a slash line of .800/1.000/0.833. In his first game with the Snappers, he went 3-3 with a run and 2 RBIs

 

WINTER GARDEN SQUEEZE

2B LUCAS DUNN (Louisville) .667/.818/1.333 | 4H/1HR/1 2B/ 3BB/1SB

Dunn has been one of the best hitters in the league. He has a hit in every game and leads the league in SLG%, 2nd in OBP, 2nd in ISO, tied for 2nd in runs, 3rd in runs created, and tied for 4th in BA all while having quite a few rain outs. He has been the definition of consistent and is an early MVP contender.

 

WINTER PARK DIAMOND DAWGS

3B LUIS LAMARCHE (Savannah State) .429/.545/.571 | 3R/3H/3RBI/3BB

Lamarche has recorded one hit in every game with 2 or more at-bats, including a big 2 RBI single against the Mavericks that helped Winter Park win its first game of the season.

 

TEAM PITCHERS OF THE WEEK

DELAND SUNS

RHP CHRIS BRUCKS (St. Pete College) 3.1IP, 0R, 2H, 5K, 1BB

Brucks made two appearances on the week for the Suns, which included two scoreless innings against undefeated Sanford. The SPC product added four outs in DeLand's first win of the summer, a 10-7 triumph over the Seminole County Loggerheads. Brucks logged half of his outs - five of ten - via the strikeout.

 

LEESBURG LIGHTNING

LHP JAELIN SEWELL (Marshall) 2IP, 0R, 1H, 4K, 1BB

Sewell showed his stuff early and often in week one. The southpaw was especially effective against right-handers, challenging them with his blazing fastball. He was remarkably consistant as well, registering a pair of strikeouts in each outing.

 

ORLANDO SCORPIONS

Nick Viera (Central Florida) 3IP, 3H, 3K, 1BB

The incoming freshman pitched twice this past week for the Scorpions, logging two scoreless innings against the Sanford Mavericks and one against the Leesburg Storm.

 

SANFORD MAVERICKS

Rollin Layton (Cumberlands) 1.2IP, 1H, 2SO, 1BB,

In his lone appearance on the mound this week for the Mavs, Layton worked 1.2 innings and got the save against the Orlando Scorpions. The righty allowed one hit and struck out two in the process.

 

SANFORD RIVER RATS

RHP TONY ROSSI (State College of Florida) 2.0IP, 0R, 0H, 6K, 0BB

Rossi only has 1 official outing in the books due to a suspended game against the Scorpions on July 4th, but it was just as dominant as his official outing on July 1st against the Mavericks. Rossi struck out the side in order for two consecutive innings, and it simply does not get any better than that.

 

SEMINOLE COUNTY LOGGERHEADS

EDWIN SERRANO (Virginia Commonwealth) 1.2IP, 0ER, 1H, 2K, 1BB

Serrano was only able to pitch in one appearance but was able to strike out four of the 8 batters he faced in 1.2 innings of work.

 

SEMINOLE COUNTY SNAPPERS

LUKE DRUMMOND (Birmingham Southern) 2IP, 0R, 0H, 4K, 0BB

Drummond appeared in one game and pitched all 2 innings he was allowed. In those 2 innings he struck out 4 batters allowing 0 hits and 0 runs

 

WINTER GARDEN SQUEEZE

PARKER MESSICK (Florida State) 3.1IP, 0R, 1H, 6K, 2BB

Allowed second fewest amount of hits by any pitcher who has thrown over 3 innings. T3rd in FCSL in strikeouts. Threw 1.2 innings of shutout baseball vs Lightning and Diamond Dawgs. Four of the five outs vs Dawgs were strikeouts.

 

WINTER PARK DIAMOND DAWGS

KEITH KUTZER (Carthage) 3.1IP, 0R, 2H, 4K, 1BB

Kutzer got the start against the Mavericks and kept them off the board through the first two innings, helping the Dawgs win their first game of the season.

 

We look forward to a lot more action this summer in the Florida League. Be sure to subscribe to FloSports to live stream our games, listen to the audio broadcasts on Meridix, and be sure to follow us on all of our social channels: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram