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LAKE MARY, Fla.- For the entirety of the 2023 Florida League regular season, no one scored on the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs while Nicholas Jennings (Saint Leo), and the amount of those that even managed a hit could be counted on one hand.

Nicholas Jennings (Saint Leo) posted one of the most dominant seasons for a pitcher in Florida League history, and is the 2023 recipient of the FCSL Reliever of the Year Award. Jennings is the fourth member of the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs to earn Reliever of the Year honors, joining Brian Carruyo (2019), Alex Diese (2014) and Josh Glick (2013).

The Land O' Lakes native came out of the bullpen nine times for Winter Park, logging a total of 19 innings on the mound. Jennings struck out 38 of the 68 hitters he faced this summer, and surrendered just five hits. The Dawgs did not surrender a run, earned or otherwise, during Jennings' time on the mound, and opposing hitters logged a .082 batting average.

The Diamond Dawg reliever made an immediate impact in his first game, tossing four scoreless, hitless innings against the Sanford River Rats on June 4. He would continue his success throughout the season, earning three wins in his nine appearances. Two of his wins came against the second-seeded team in the FCSL in Sanford, while another came against the Orlando Snappers.

Winter Park's ace rarely worked just one inning, going two or more innings in all but one of his regular season appearances. Two of those outings - June 12 against Winter Garden and July 3 against Leesburg - saw Jennings work perfectly, retiring all six hitters he faced on both occasions.

Jennings also played a major role in Winter Park's playoff victory over the Orlando Snappers. The reliever came on in the eighth inning of the FCSL Play-In Game, working scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth to keep the Snappers off the board while the Diamond Dawgs forced extra innings in a game they would eventually win in the bottom of the ninth.

The righthander ranked second in the Florida League in strikeouts, despite throwing more than 30 innings fewer than the only player to rank ahead of him. His totals in nearly every other pitching category would have been among the league's best had he thrown enough innings to qualify.

Jennings played a key role in getting Winter Park to the FCSL Semifinals, and becomes the newest winner of the Florida League Reliever of the Year Award.

This week, the Florida League will be unveiling our yearly award winners. The schedule of awards is as follows:
Monday: Coach of the Year- Rich Billings
Tuesday: David Eckstein Sportsmanship Award- Chase Bruno
Wednesday: Reliever of the Year- Nicholas Jennings
Thursday: Player of the Year
Friday: Pitcher of the Year
Saturday: Randy Harvey Umpire of the Year