Storms Late Surge for the Win
Sanford, FL – The Leesburg Storm (7-7) came away with a 3-0 shutout win on the Diamond Dawgs (7-8) after a late surge. The Diamond Dawgs struggled to get anything going on offense despite having seven hits in the game.
The starting pitchers for both teams came to play combining to let up zero runs in nine innings of work. Dawgs’ Keith Kutzler (Carthage) was the first to step on the mound taking down the first nine batters while letting up one baserunner on a walk. On a strike him out throw him outplay the baserunner was tagged out as well. Kutzler began the fourth not as strong giving up two walks and a single loading the bases with one out of the board. He worked out of the jam with a wild pitched turned tag out at the home plate and a groundout. Kutzler pitched 4 innings walking four and striking out two.
For the Storm, Carson Pillsbury (Santa Fe) went five strong innings giving up five hits and striking out one out of his 22 batters faced. Pillsbury got out of the first easily but found himself in some trouble in the second and third. In the second, William Sullivan (Troy) singled, and right after him, Carson Clowers (Shelton State) bunted a perfect ball down the first baseline to put runners at first and second nobody out. A strikeout, a pop-up, and catching Clowers stealing got Pillsbury out of the inning. In the third, Pillsbury got two straight groundouts to begin. Then singles from Cameron Meehan (Rollins) and Cole Beeker (George Washington) put runners at the corners. However, quickly evaded with a deep flyout to the warning track in left field. Nothing came from the Dawgs offense after the third inning.
While Winter Park landed just two hits in following the third inning, the Storm found some offense late in the game. Leesburg threatened in the fourth but scored no runs previously mentioned above. The offense scored the first two runs in the seventh. Alex Freeland (UCF) went from first to third on two errors and an AJ Shaver (Francis Marion) single. Shaver stole second putting two runners in scoring position when Parker Pillsbury (Southern Wesleyan) came to the plate. Parker Pillsbury stuck out in his previous at-bats, however, this time he singled slightly right of second base past an infield pressed forward scoring Freeland and Shaver. The Storm took the lead 2-0 which would be all they needed. Leesburg added another run in the ninth from a Freeland double to the right field.
The Storm trying to keep the winning going against the Squeeze at Pat Thomas Stadium and the Diamond Dawgs have a chance to even their record in Conrad against the Suns.
ConlanBirdsall
