LEESBURG, Fla. - The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs lost to the Leesburg Lightning, 6-5, in Game 2 of the Florida League Semifinals at Alfond Stadium and Pat Thomas Stadium.

Game 2 was supposed to be hosted by the Dawgs, but not all of the game was completed in Winter Park. The first eight innings took place at home on July 26th.

Winter Park starting pitcher Andrew White (Queens University) had great stuff, but it came with some command issues. These issues, which led to eight walks, did not really hurt the Dawgs, except for a wild pitch that scored first baseman Drew Stubbs (Georgia Gwinnett) in the second inning to make it 1-0 Lightning. White ended up with four innings of one-run, no-hit ball and five strikeouts.

In the bottom of the second, the Dawgs struck back. Extra hitter Edbarry Guzman (Keiser) tied things up with an RBI single. Second baseman Sam Tanous (Saint Peter’s) knocked in Guzman on a single to give the Dawgs the lead. WP left the bases loaded, though, which would turn out to be crucial later.

After that inning, the offense stopped. Joe Belflower (Illinois Tech) came in for White and pitched four more no-hit innings, this time in shutout fashion. After eight innings, the Lightning were supposed to come to bat for the final time, but the 11 p.m. curfew at Alfond Stadium struck, and the game had to be resumed on July 27th in Leesburg.

The Leesburg chapter of this matchup went very differently from the innings in Winter Park. The Lightning got their first two hits in the top of the ninth, and tied the game at two. The Dawgs could not score in the home half, so extra innings came next.

Leesburg put up four runs in the top of the tenth, but left the bases juiced. Trailing 6-2, Winter Park had one more chance to keep its season alive. Extra hitter Isaac Nunez (Southeastern) delivered the first blow with a sacrifice fly. With two outs, first baseman Timo Aracena (Embry-Riddle) walked in a run, and third baseman Matt Coker (Embry-Riddle) had an RBI hit by pitch. With loaded bases, the Dawgs could get another run across, ending their 2023 Florida League Campaign.

The final runs scored by Leesburg were allowed by Nick Jennings (Saint Leo), but after the game, Head Coach Jim Newlin had nothing but love for his relief ace and the rest of his squad, declaring, “I’m certainly proud of the guys. The way you think you’d draw it up in a suspended game like this is you just hope for three-up-three-down and you move into game three right away. We had the right guy to do it. I feel bad for Nick, but he had such a great summer … He could carry that into the Fall and then into the Spring for his own school and that’s exactly what I want for all these guys.”

The Dawgs finish the season as Florida League Semifinalists, following a fourth-place regular season record of 15-19. Not bad for a team that started out 2-8.

Alex Remoll (Syracuse University)