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Leesburg, Fl- The Winter Garden Squeeze took home the win on Tuesday night at Pat Thomas Stadium In Leesburg for the second consecutive night.In game 2, it was about pitching that led the way to the win for the squeeze. In game 3, it was all about the offense. 

The Squeeze had a total of 14 hits, 11 of them coming before the 6th inning even started. They also had 4 different players with multi hit games in John Smith III (Pensacola), Todd Clay (Pensacola), Michael Young (Pensacola), and Zackary Stokes (West Florida). It wasn't just the hitting that did it for the Squeeze offensively, they also ran the basses with a lot ore aggressiveness than shown in previous games which proved to be a staple in this Squeeze offense in this one. 

I got the chance to talk to Head Coach Mike McDaniel after the game about the players ability to steal bases and be aggressive. He said, "We usually give the runners the green light....the guys that are able to steal bases always have the green light unless there's a situation it's unneeded, I like to let them play a little loose and free."

On the mound with the start was for the Squeeze was Connor Burt (Troy), he went 4 innings, gave up 2 runs, 1 walk, and struck out 3. For the Lightning it was Daniel Foster(Palm Beach), the Squeeze got on Foster fast, as he gave up eleven hits on 6 runs and 3 strikeouts.

The first run was scored in the top of the first thanks to a Santino Rao (Northwestern) single that brought in Luis Antigua (Oklahoma Wesleyan). 

In the top of the 2nd inning the Squeeze picked up more runs on a Zackary Stokes (West Florida) hit to the second basemen ruled a single with a throwing error committed by the catcher to bring in Todd Clay (West Florida) and Michael Young.The Lightning were able to answer in the bottom of the 2nd inning, when Maika Niu (New Orleans) scored the first run of the game. Leesburg was able to out 2 runs on the board in the same inning with the second being Andrew Lenienbach (North Florida) scoring on an error committed by the catcher. 

The Squeeze added a few of insurance runs onto the 1 run lead in the top half of the 4th inning when Clay scored again on a error by the catcher, they picked up another run on a Cole Resetar (Pace) RBI single that just stayed on the line going down the first base line good enough to bring in Noah Ward (Volunteer State) and Young. 

Smith III put a bow on this game when he launched a ball that went way over the left field fence and sent Leesburg fans home as he did so. 

The Squeeze get a much needed off day tomorrow as they just finished up a 5 games in 5 days slate. They are back at it again on Thursday back at Olympia High school but this time at 11am vs Orlando. 

Christian Rapoza (Full Sail University)