Winter Park, Fla- A clean first inning allowed for the pitching staff to settle in before the bats came through in the last couple frames. It was a 6-spot put up in the 6th inning that was the difference maker in another blowout victory. 

Starting RHP Scout Updike (Jacksonville U) provided a 1-2-3 1st before he gave way to the bullpen which was lights out once again. 

RHP Carson Henrikson was the first arm out of the bullpen for Coach Billings, tossing two scoreless innings while allowing just one hit and two walks.

In the 4th, the Lightning struck first after an RBI single from C Cole Bullen (UF) which gave the team a 1-0 lead. 

In the bottom of the inning, RHP James Hill (USF) ran into some trouble after he allowed a single and a double which put two in scoring position with no one out. The righty gave up a sacrifice fly that tied the game at 1-1 before retiring the last two batters and limiting the Diamond Dawgs to just the one run. 

Later in the 6th, Leesburg loaded the bases with three straight hits before extra hitter Marco Mueses (Texas Southern U) walked which plated another run. Bullen then followed with an RBI groundout that made it a 3-1 lead. A couple batters later; SS Grant Jordan (Pasco-Hernando St) knocked in two more runs with a two-out single that extended the lead to 5-1. A wild pitch then allowed 1B James Strom (Southeastern U) to score before pinch hitter Ledger Pleasant (St. Johns River St) provided an RBI single that made it 7-1. 

RHP Lucas Perez (Florida Southern) came on in the bottom of the inning to hold the lead at 6 and would strikeout the side needing just 13 pitches to get it done.

Despite it not being a save situation, RHP Jose Paniagua (College of Central FL) was put in for the final frame and after allowing back-to-back singles, he would sit down the next three batters in order, to give the Lightning the 7-1 win. 

Coach Billings emphasized his offense’s ability to limit strikeouts by staying aggressive at the plate and consistently putting the ball in play.

“We don’t strike out very much, which is huge,” said Billings. “These guys always put the ball in play and anytime you put the ball in play, you have a chance. We didn’t have a ton of barrels tonight, but we got hits when we needed hits and to their credit, they did not strikeout, so I think that was the difference in the game.”

Cole Bullen discussed his successful night at the plate and highlighted James Hill’s ability to get out of a tough jam in the 4th. 

“I was just trying to be on time for my fastballs,” said Bullen. “Especially with runners in scoring position, I'm just trying to find the first available pitch I can get the job done with. I thought [James Hill] threw well, even with the guys that got on base, the hardest hit balls that inning were outs. I think we got out of it by continuing to throw strikes… and as long as we kept filling up the zone, we were going to get out of that.” 

Leesburg heads home for a make-up game with DeLand on Sunday, July 13 in hopes of making it three straight wins. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. at Pat Thomas Stadium. 

Vic Maslia (Syracuse University)