Orlando, Fl. - The Orlando Snappers got back on the win column after defeating the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs 6-5 in 7 innings.

Orlando struck first on the board taking advantage of some control issues by Nick Wilson (St. Leo College) who walked Nikola Mezzanotte (Oberlin College) with the bases making a 1-0 game in favor of the hosts.

With one swing of the bat, the Diamond Dawgs evened the score at one piece as Pierce Glading (Georgia Southwestern State) got his first long ball of the season to lead off the third inning.

Winter Park added 2 more runs to their tally in the following inning and took a 3-1 lead.

That advantage was short-lived as the Snappers showed some offensive power of their own in the bottom half.

Grant Comeaux (Undecided) led off the inning with a single followed by a Hayden Gustavson (LA Tech) double putting two runners in scoring position.

Immediately after, Mario Trivella (Florida International) scored them both with one swing of the bat, crushing a ball to deep, deep, deep left field to put his team up 4-3.

With still no one away in the inning, Hudson Walburn (West Alabama) gave his team some insurance by going yard himself.

The Diamond Dawgs continued to bark, scoring 2 runs in the top of the sixth inning and tying the game at 5 a piece. despite being down to their final 4 outs.

Orlando in the bottom of the inning managed to produce 1 run and take a 5-6 lead.

Cristian Montes (Florida Tech) took care of the rest, getting the final 3 outs of the ballgame in the seventh inning.

Montes got some help from Daniel Irizarry (Undecided) who, with runners at second and third, caught a fly ball in shallow right field and instead of going home with it, made a heads up play and fired a shot to second base to catch the runner by surprise and complete the high IQ game ending double play.

The Snappers now switch gears as they prepare to take on the Leesburg Lightning in the final 3 games of the Florida League regular season with hopes of clinching that second place spot over the Lightning.

Right now, it’s Leesburg holding on to second place, 1 game over Orlando,

Game 1 of this 3-game set is scheduled for Thursday, July 17, with first pitch set for 7:00pm from The First Academy in Orlando, Fl.

#SnappsUp

Esteban Velez (University of Missouri)