DELAND, Fla. - Two ninth inning homers weren’t enough as The DeLand Suns (10-18) fell to the Leesburg Lightning (18-11). 

Going into the ninth, the Suns were down 5-1 and running out of outs. Gavin Thomas (Davidson) led off the inning and knocked a long-ball to left field to hopefully light a fire under DeLand. The home run increased Thomas’ league-leading total to six, and marks his third at Pat Thomas Stadium this season. Following the homer, the Lightning closer retired the next two Suns before Aris Rivera (Florida International) stepped up, representing DeLand’s final chance. The catcher launched a no-doubter over the left-field wall for his first home-run of the season, making it a 5-3 ball game. Unfortunately for the Suns, it wasn’t enough as the following batter was set down to secure the win for Leesburg.

Lightning pitching proved to be all the difference as DeLand was only able to score once before the ninth-inning fireworks. In the fourth, Connor O’Sullivan (Undecided) led off with an infield single and moved into scoring position after a groundout. With two outs, Eli Tidwell knocked a double that landed just fair down the left-field line to score O’Sullivan to put the Suns on the board.

DeLand rotated between three pitchers in Sunday’s contest. Paul Janezcko (Portal) went 4.1 innings pitched, allowing two runs off of six hits and four walks, and striking out four along the way. Dawson Turner (Portal) was the first arm out of the pen and went for an inning and a third with two earned runs and two strikeouts. Joey Ervin wrapped things up on the mound, dealing for 2.1 innings, striking out three while only allowing a hit and two walks.

The DeLand Suns are back in action as they face the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs on July 14, at Conrad Park at 7 p.m.

Adrian Delgado (Central Florida)