Winter Garden, Fla. - The Winter Garden Squeeze fell to 8-16 for the 2025 season after dropping another matchup to the Sanford River Rats 2-0 at home on Thursday.

This was arguably the most closely contested game of the year between these two squads, outside of the extra innings contest from a month ago.

Neither team managed to get any real offensive momentum going, as no runs were scored at Horizon Park until the fifth inning.

It was supposed to be a makeup doubleheader at the 2025 home field of the Squeeze, caused by several cancellations, delays, and field issues at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. The seventh and final inning of the first game ended up being cancelled as well due to lightning in the area and eventually, the second game would be postponed as well.

Both starting pitchers threw five full innings as they battled it out. Andrew Furey (Florida Southern College) allowed six hits, two earned runs, two walks, and struck out two River Rats in what was a decent outing for the 2025 West All Star Starting Pitcher.

Three Winter Garden batters went 1-2 at the plate with one hit, as Sanford’s pitching and defense largely had their number throughout the contest.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Dawson Mock (Undecided) hit an RBI single down the first base line, which eventually turned into two runs scoring after a fielding error from the Squeeze.

As previously mentioned, these would be the only runs of the game, as inclement weather brought it to a halt in the very next frame.

Winter Garden gets a rest day for the Fourth of July holiday and will be back in action against Sanford on July 5 in a doubleheader at home at Horizon High School at 4:00 and 6:30 p.m.

Rickie Potts II (Syracuse University)