Squeeze Defeat Suns With Late Rally
WINTER GARDEN, Fla. - Despite a slow start, the Winter Garden Squeeze defeated the DeLand Suns 9-1 on Friday.
The Squeeze hit heavy to score all nine runs in the final two innings of the game.
The Suns put the first run on the board in the fourth inning when Jordan Morrow (Stetson) delivered a single past third base to bring Jay Hayes (FGCU) to plate.
Squeeze pitcher Ryan Ashworth (Flagler) started on the mound and threw six solid innings with six strikeouts and only five hits. Ashworth was replaced by Lance Johnson (Troy) in the seventh inning.
It was a brand new ballgame for Winter Garden in the seventh inning as they knocked in three runs to take the lead.
The first run came when Ethan Jones (Flagler) hit through the third baseman’s legs for Cody Burgess (Florida Southern) to score. Jonah Garrison (Polk State) trailed Burgess on the run in as he was batted in by Drenis Ozuna (South Florida). Jones got the best of the Suns’ third baseman again when he took home on the fielder’s error.
The Orange and Blue latched onto the lead for good in the eighth inning when six runs poured in.
The outburst began with a bunt from Garrison that brought Drew Frederic (Troy) home. Nick Niarchos (High Point) kept the rally going when he smacked a single to center field to bring Burgess and Garrison to plate. Ozuna locked down the victory as he jacked a home run over the left field wall that sent Jacob Silverstein (West Florida) and Niarchos home.
Coach Jay Welsh compared tonight’s slow start in the game to the team’s slow start in the season.
“It’s been a slow start through June and July,” Welsh said. “We’re not the best hitting team. We have great hitters, but it’s just one of those things where we’ve been seeing good pitching all year and we just haven’t really executed well.
“Tonight we executed. We ran deep counts, we hit the ball backside, we laid down a few bunts believe it or not. We just really executed well tonight like we actually knew what we were doing.”
The Squeeze will travel next to DeLand on Saturday for a doubleheader with the Suns starting at 5 pm and 7 pm.
Kaycee Guffey (UCF)
