It was another blow-for-blow matchup against the snappers and the riverrats and sanford Sweeps the snappers in their first series this season. A game that may be foreshadowing a future matchup between the two in the postseason.
The first three innings were scoreless for both teams, In a game where we thought the perfect mix of offense and defense would dominate, Only pitching provided.

The Game

Brett Dennis for the Snappers pitched 3.2 innings With 4 strikeouts, An impressive performance against a sanford offense that struck early. 
For Trey Clinton it was 4 No-Hit innings and a showcase of defense courtesy of Manny Santana, Spicher, Calise and Co. Santana Scaled the left field wall at 330’ to bring a goner back into the ballpark, Saving the no-no bid and kept a run at bay. Clinton finished the game with 2 Strikeouts, 0 Runs and 0 hits. 

The River Rats broke the tension and put up a 3-run 4th. Stewart Puckett doubled to left to put the first runner on 2nd. Dawson mock flew out to score Calise and Spicher brought Puckett around for the first 2 Runs batted in. A Schafer RBI single took The pitcher Kyle Powers out of the game, and A Start to a run of bullpen calls for both dugouts. 
The Sanford pitching staff kept the Snappers scoreless through 7. Where after a few walks and a Hit by pitch 1 Run scored. A Slew of Walks and Errors by Sanford in the 8th made the game 5-4. But Spicher provided a flyout that scored the tying run.With a Scoreless 9th frame in the books, it was time for extra innings. Walburn singled to move the leading run to third after Calise couldn’t come up with it. Robinson scored unearned to make the game 6-6.

The Sanford Riverrats put Cooper Pitman on 2nd as the extra-inning runner. Great speed for them to re-tie the game. Xavier brought the rain and tied the game with a show for to right, Scoring Pitman. With a Spicher walk, Schafer single, and Lopez on third, the bases were loaded with one away for Anthony Saleeba. In a move. That was unprecedented at the time, The Left fielder shifted into the shortstop position, making a 5 man infield. The Left Field pocket was wide open for Saleeba, and He roped one into left to win it. 7-6 your final from Sanford, Identical to the game on Thursday against the Snappers. Down to the score. 

The Story

With Two Walk-off wins and the Sweep, the Rats are now 7-1, but they don’t have it easy the next two games against the sleeper offense of the Deland Suns, The starting Rotation proved once again how strong it can be with the bullpen showing more strength last night as well.  They start at home Monday at 6:30 pm. 

Christian Bussiere, Daytona State

Photo by Taryn Friend