Leesburg, Fla- Nearly a month after the Lightning handed Sanford its first loss, the two teams finally met again with the Rats having won every game since. Coach Billings and his team knew that this was going to be the toughest test yet and they proved to be up for the challenge. 

Leesburg came out hot in the 1st with an RBI single from 3B Juan Orozco (Seminole St) followed by a groundout from 1B James Strom (Southeastern U) which plated another run. Extra hitter TJ Socarras (Pitt) then extended the lead to 3-0 after his RBI single. 

Starting LHP Ethan Barrett (Wallace CC) would throw two shutout frames before getting into trouble in the 3rd. The River Rats scored their first run from an RBI single and would add on with a groundout that made it 3-2. A wild pitch then allowed another run to score, tying the game at 3-3 with Leesburg looking to answer.

In the bottom of the inning, the Lightning would do what they do best and get those runs back starting with an RBI single from Extra Hitter Cole Bullen (UF). Strom would drive in another run from a groundout which would extend the Leesburg lead to 5-3.

 

The runs kept coming in the 5th with Sanford trying to claw away at the lead, getting a run back off a passed ball to cut the lead to 5-4.

CF Elijah Thurmond (Florida Southern) scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 5th to provide more padding to the tight lead and make it a 6-4 ballgame. 

With it still being just a two-run lead in the 6th, C Trey Craft (FAMU) rocketed a double that scored two more runs which made it 8-4 with three more frames to go. 

The Rats were able to get one of those runs back in the 7th with a double of their own which put the score at 8-5. 

Like clockwork, Leesburg answered yet again in the bottom of the inning after Bullen scored on a wild pitch and pinch hitter Julian Irizarry (Pitt) walked in a run to make it 10-5. This was the fourth different inning the Lightning hung a crooked number on the board. 

LHP Bryan Burtoft (Holy Family U) came on in the 8th and got a 1-2-3 inning with one punchout, to hold the lead at 5 going into the final frame. 

In the 9th, it was up to RHP Jose Paniagua (College of Central FL) to slam the door on the River Rats and hopefully end their streak. After giving up back-to-back one out walks the flamethrower would find an extra gear with traffic on the base paths. With the two best Sanford hitter due up, Paniagua would strikeout both to seal the deal and give the Lightning the 10-5 victory and crush the rats hopes of extending their win streak. 

Eli Thurmond discussed how it was nice to break the Rats winning streak, but more importantly, how nice it is to see the team playing their brand of baseball.
 

“I'm just happy to be playing and happy to get a win tonight," said Thurmond. “It turned out we broke their win streak, but we’re just playing our own game, trying to play good baseball and that puts together wins.”

Leesburg heads to Sanford for a doubleheader on Saturday June 28 in hopes of extending the teams 5-game win streak. First pitch for game 1 is set for 4:30 and game 2 will be 30 minutes after the conclusion of game 1 at Sanford Memorial Stadium. 

Vic Maslia (Syracuse University)