News

By, Zack Smolen

Leesburg, FL – In a game where the two teams traded zeroes for the first six innings, it was an offensive outburst by the Leesburg Lightning (14-4) that carried them over the top for a 6-3 victory over the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (8-9) Friday morning at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. Leesburg clinched a winning record with the win as the Dawgs dropped below .500, and are now on the outside looking in relating to the playoff picture.

Clay Stearns (Troy) remained scorching hot during the fourth week of play, knocking in four runs on a pair of base hits to help carry the Lightning offense. Stearns extended his hitting streak to six games and his RBI streak to three straight contests, in which he knocked in seven runs. “The great thing about Clay today is that he struggled at the plate a little bit to start, but he shortened his swing up and recognized what needed to be done with runners in scoring position and hit some hard ground balls,” said Lightning manager Rich Billings.

The pitching for Leesburg was lights out for most of the ballgame, with Nate Henderson (Flagler) providing five innings of scoreless and no-hit baseball in his second outing of the year. Henderson’s command of his off-speed pitches and ability to keep everything in the zone resulted in eight strikeouts and just one base runner for the Dawgs while he was out there. “It felt good,” Henderson said, “me and Clay throw pretty well to each other. “We had a good tempo, a good rhythm, I was just throwing fastballs to get ahead and I feel like that’s the key to success.”

Winter Park struggled mightily at the plate for the majority of the game, striking out 16 total times and registering their first hit all the way in the bottom of the seventh. Despite those figures, Chuck Schall’s squad remained tough and kept the game close right up until the end when they brought the tying run to the plate with two outs. Ryan Hernandez (St. Louis), who came in as a pinch hitter in the seventh was the clear standout in the lineup, going two for two with a pair of RBI base hits.

The bullpen for the Lightning did a solid job with Will Ohme (UNF) picking up his first win of the season with a shutout frame in the sixth. Leesburg native Tucker Smith (Georgia Southwestern) earned his second save of the year with a big strikeout to end the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Also worth noting is the spectacular play of Jalen DeBose (FAU), who threw a strike to home plate to retire Chenar Brown (Jackson St.) and keep the game at 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The Lightning will look to avenge a loss from last week when they play the Seminole County Snappers at Pat Thomas Stadium Saturday morning at 11am.

Winter Park will faceoff with the Winter Garden Squeeze 11am on Saturday at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium.