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The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs took down the DeLand Suns 5-2 at Conrad Park on Monday night as the Dawgs were no-hit through eight innings, but came back in the ninth to snap their seven-game losing streak.

With Winter Park down 2-1, Matthew Delay (Southeastern) led off the top of the ninth with a single to end the combined no-no bid. A few batters later, Sam Downey (Stetson) provided an RBI single to score Delay and tie the game. The next batter, Andy Perez (Pittsburgh) lined a single to right field that got past Ryan Robinson (Undecided) and allowed Perez to circle the bases. The Dawgs scored three on the play and took a 5-2 lead to the bottom half.

“Those were two huge hits, especially the one by Andy,” Winter Park head coach Jim Newlin said after the game. “That was just a clutch at-bat, and when they kicked it around in the outfield, with the way Andy runs bases, I wasn’t holding him up so I sent him all the way around.”

Before the ninth-inning heroics by the Dawgs, the game was a pitcher’s duel through the first eight frames. Savian Loor (Thomas) and Haro Baez (Missouri Baptist) had phenomenal nights on the mound.

Baez for DeLand tossed seven no-hit innings, allowing just one unearned run on one walk with nine strikeouts. This lowered his ERA on the season to 0.74 in seven appearances.

For Winter Park, Loor made his first start of the season after coming out of the bullpen 10 times before. He was up to the task, throwing 6 ⅔ innings, allowing two runs on three hits and fanned five.

“[Loor] did great,” Newlin said. “He’s been asking for a start, and it worked out to give him one tonight. He was around the zone, made the guys put the ball in play, and we made some great plays behind him. He did a fantastic job.”

Fisher Sheffield (Keystone) relieved Loor on the mound and was lights-out again. He threw the final 2 ⅓ innings perfect as he struck out four of the seven batters he faced. This performance earned Sheffield his second win of the season and his first as a Diamond Dawg.

Going into the All-Star break on Wednesday, Newlin said that ending the losing streak feels a lot better than if it had continued.

“Absolutely it feels great, without a doubt,” he said. “These guys have been battling, and we’ve lost some tough games that we could’ve won. It was really good to see these guys come back and get the win tonight.”

Winter Park will have two days off for the All-Star game, for which seven Dawgs were selected. The team will be back at it on Thursday as the Dawgs begin a three-game series against the first-place Leesburg Lightning. They will need to rally in the final eight games of the regular season if they want to make the playoffs as Winter Park is currently one game behind the fifth-place Orlando Snappers.

Tyler Mecchella (Presbyterian) is scheduled to start on the mound on Thursday for the Dawgs against Tyler Donay (Embry-Riddle) for Leesburg. First pitch at Alfond Stadium is set for 6 p.m. ET.

Hugh Green (University of Florida)