DELAND, Fla. - The DeLands Suns’ playoff bid comes to an end as they’re swept by the Sanford RIver Rats in the 2025 FCSL Semifinal.

Going into Wednesday’s contest, it was win or go home for the Suns. A win keeps their championship hopes alive, a loss would mean the end of their summer. The Rats struck first, scoring one in the first and another in the second.

Down 2-0 early, the Suns were able to answer back in the bottom of the second. Kevin Brunet (Polk State) led off with a walk. Michael O’Brien (Kaskaskia CC) moved the lead-off man into scoring position with a single. With a chance to answer back, Connor O’Sullivan (Undecided) collected a single to score Brunet and put DeLand on the board. 

Down one going into the third Osmin Melendez (Undecided) reached off an error by the second baseman, Eli Tidwell (Undecided) kept the line moving with a single for his first hit of the contest. A successful hit and run by William Rollings (Undecided) advanced both runners with Melendez scoring and tying the game at two apiece. 

Unfortunately for DeLand, Sanford struck back hard in the fourth. Starting the inning with two runners on, back-to-back base hits scored four for the River Rats in the frame, giving them a 6-2 advantage. They scored another their next time up to put them up by five through five. 

Despite the deficit the Suns continued to show fight, down five in the fifth, Tidwell led the inning off via a hit-by-pitch to keep the dream alive. Consecutive singles by Rollings and Holden Brauner (Undecided) scored Tidwell to bring it within four. 

Up five with four innings to go, River Rats pitching and defense prevented the DeLand offense from scoring anymore. Sanford’s offense also put up three more in that span to make it a 10-3 final score.

Despite the margin of victory, the Suns competed with heart all night. In all nine innings of baseball, DeLand was only retired 1-2-3 once in the eighth. They put eight hits on the board and reached base a total of 16 times. Key defensive plays and shut-down pitching made all the difference for Sanford in the playoff matchup.

“We competed all night and were short a few hits with runners on base. I’m proud of the team to put the offense in a position to score runs inning after inning. Credit to Sanford pitching for stopping us from having the big inning to either take the lead or get closer.” - Coach Cameron Jergens

With the loss the DeLand Suns season now comes to an end as the Sanford River Rats advance to the 2025 FCSL Championship Series for the first time since 2020. They will face either the Orlando Snappers or Leesburg Lightning in the final series, Orlando currently leads the semifinal 1-0. 

Adrian Delgado (UCF)