Lightning Drop Game Two Against Sanford
LEESBURG, Fla.-The Leesburg Lightning (12-8) dropped game two of their series with the Sanford River Rats (13-5) at home on Friday night in a nailbiter, by a score of 6-5.
Sanford was able to jump on top early in the first inning, as five straight singles given up by Lightning starting pitcher Layton Perry (Jacksonville) fueled a 3-0 lead for the River Rats going into the bottom half of the first inning.
The Lightning did begin to chip away in the bottom of the first inning, as Gabriel Santiago (Coker) stole both second and third base after a leadoff walk, and then scored on a wild pitch to cut the Sanford lead to 3-1.
Santiago has been electric for the Lightning on the basepaths this season, stealing a league-leading 22 bases so far this season, including three in Friday night’s game, while also not having been caught stealing to this point in the season. With only two hits in this ballgame, Leesburg is a team that produces offense regardless of whether or not they are hitting the ball, and Santiago is one of the catalysts for that. The Lightning also currently lead the league in stolen bases with 71 on the season, in only 20 games.
“The whole top of the lineup can really run and I think that gives us a real advantage, especially on a night like tonight where we only had two hits,” Santiago said. “Even when our bats didn’t show up like you saw tonight, we still have a chance to win because of the pressure we put on the pitchers and defense on the bases.”
The Lightning came back to tie the game up in the third inning with a Logan Chapman (Georgia Tech) single that scored two runs to even the score up a 3-3.
A huge three-run fifth inning would be all Sanford would need for the rest of the game, as they took a 6-3 lead going into the sixth inning.
In that sixth inning, Leesburg would respond with two runs, both driven in on an RBI-double by Drew Leinenbach (North Florida) to cut the Sanford lead to 6-5.
Jayson Chaffee (Northwest Florida State) and Blake Tipmore (Undecided) put in solid performances in the final three innings out of the bullpen for the Lightning, but without any offensive production, Sanford was able to hold on and take a 6-5 win in game two of the series.
The rubber match of this three-game set will be in Sanford on Saturday night. First pitch is set for 6:30 PM at Sanford Memorial Stadium.
Carter Mansfield (Austin Peay State University)
