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WINTER PARK, Fla (July 6, 2018) – All cylinders were firing for the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs on Friday night as they defeat the Seminole County Scorpions by a score of 13-1 in seven innings to go into the all-star break with a crucial victory.  A bulk of those runs came in the sixth inning, as the Diamond Dawgs crossed the plate 10 times.  Winter Park has now won three of their last five games.

The trend of blowouts between these two teams continued in this game.  In three previous meetings, the winning team had scored 11 runs or more with the smallest margin of victory being six runs.

At first, Friday’s game was shaping up to tell a different story.  The game saw a scoreless pitcher’s duel through three innings.  Trevor Tinder (Georgia) was brilliant in his first start of the season for the Diamond Dawgs.  Tinder has been recovering from an elbow injury which resulted in him only throwing one inning at Georgia this past spring.

“Just to get this opportunity tonight I was super blessed,” said Tinder, “Going into it I told myself no matter the result I would be so happy to get this chance.  In between innings I was thanking God for keeping me healthy.”

Tinder would go on to last five innings and strike out nine batters, allowing no runs and only four hits.  Nine strikeouts is a game high for any Winter Park pitcher, as the next closest was six.

“Everything was working tonight,” said Tinder, “I’ve always been a slider guy, but now I’m learning to throw a curveball to compliment my slider.  Being able to mix it up tonight I think was my biggest key.

While Tinder was shutting down the opposition’s offense, somebody let the Dawgs offense out.  Brian Ellis (FGCU) reached on a single on his way to a 2-for-3 night with one out in the third inning.  The next batter would be Jacob Teter (Florida Southern), who would launch a two run bomb to right field, paired with an emphatic bat flip.

“He’s a solid player…I expect at bats like that out of Teter,” said manager Chuck Schall, “I expect him to come and really put the ball in play hard.”

Hunter Phillips (Alabama State) followed up Teter’s home run with one of his own, a ball he hit almost 400 feet and tagged a car on its way down.  This is the first time this season Winter Park has hit back to back home runs.  Phillips came into this game on a bit of a roll, as in the team’s previous game he doubled twice in three at-bats.  His home run would give the Diamond Dawgs a 3-0 lead after the fourth inning.

“It felt great off the bat, I knew it was gone,” said Phillips, “Just to come into today’s game though and have good at bats is what I want; luckily it was just my night and I was able to help the team out.”

Winter Park has had many big innings, but none bigger than the 10-run sixth inning in this contest.  The inning began with an Alex Jackson (Wichita State) walk, extending his on base streak to 16 games in 16 games played with the Diamond Dawgs.

Sixteen batters would come to the plate in the inning for the Diamond Dawgs.  Three consecutive runners reached on walks, followed by Phillips reaching on an error for the first run of the inning.  Another walk would score a run to make it a 5-0 today.

Jeff Korte (Illinois) made the Scorpions pay for issuing so many free passes, as he barreled up a ball and sent it over the scoreboard in right field for a grand slam to push the lead to 9-0.

“I love pitchers who throw sidearm,” said Korte, “if they leave the ball up over the plate it’s a lot easier for me to hit.  I got an 0-1 fastball and I saw it and hit it hard.”

The carousel continued for Winter Park as all this was happening with no outs.  The eleventh batter of the inning would be the first out recorded of the inning.  It was still a productive one as it was an RBI groundout by Ellis who leads the team in that category.

Every man in the lineup for the Diamond Dawgs would not only reach base in that inning, but each member of the team would also score.  Ten runs is where the scoring would stop, as that gave Winter Park a 13-0 lead.  An unearned run in the top of the seventh would finalize the score at 13-1

Winter Park was due for an offensive explosion at some point, and it finally happened in this game.  Through 21 games, the Diamond Dawgs had only hit three home runs all season…they doubled their total in this 12-run blowout.  Out of the six home runs for Winter Park, two of them have been grand slams.

“This is a good way to start the second half,” said Schall, “Every team is battling for a spot in the standings.  I’m hoping this hit parade we put on today will carry over after the all-star break.

The Diamond Dawgs came into Friday’s game with the league’s worst ERA at 5.78 but have fared pretty well in the strikeout and walk departments, as they have allowed the fewest free passes in the league.

“I expect us to pitch better in the second half,” said pitching coach Jim Newlin. “I think the guys are getting a little more determined to show that they’re better than they’ve been.  If our fastball command can be better and our breaking ball can be thrown for strikes than we’ll have success.”

Phillips and Teter will be participating in Saturday’s FCSL Home Run Derby, as they may have used Friday’s game as a warm-up.  Korte who also homered Friday, will be in the All-Star game following the Home Run Derby.

The Diamond Dawgs are off Saturday and Sunday, as the 2018 FCSL All-Star Game takes place on Saturday at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium.  Gates open at 5:00 p.m. with the Home Run Derby starting at 6:00 p.m.  Rounding out the evening is the All-Star Game, which is set to begin at 7:00 p.m.  Winter Park is back in action on Monday on the road against Seminole County.

Ken Landis (UCF)