News

Winter Garden – In non-traditional fashion, the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs defeated the Winter Garden Squeeze 4-0 in six innings. After the original Monday game was suspended until Tuesday, both teams resumed play in the top half of the third inning at Horizon High School, with the Diamond Dawgs serving as the home team in a split double-header. Winter Park moved to 1-8, while the Squeeze dropped to 3-6 before the second game of the two-game set. 

Nonetheless, Winter Park played an excellent four innings of baseball to earn the win. Reilly Kuhar (Thomas) was the original starter for Winter Park, and he completed 2.1 innings of shutout work on Monday. And then in Tuesday’s continuation of the contest, Logan Baisley (Florida Gulf Coast) struck out seven Squeeze batters over 3.2 innings and allowed zero runs. 

It also appeared that the Winter Park bats started to come alive, as many guys found the hit column, and there were many hits with runners in scoring position and two outs, which is something that has haunted the Diamond Dawgs early on. They had a three-run inning in the fourth, which saw most of the scoring in the game. Edbarry Guzman (Keiser), Alex Espaillat (Alabama State), and Lee-Anthony Santiago (Barry) all had RBIs in the inning. 

Evan Griffis (Stetson) and Gabe Young (Jacksonville State) also had productive days at the plate, and look to be sparking this Diamond Dawgs offense up since joining the club a few days ago. Young went 3-4 with a double, and Griffis went 2-3. Baisley was recorded as the winning pitcher, and he deserved it. He had his A+ fastball working and was able to keep hitters guessing with a nasty slider. It was just what the doctor ordered for this Winter Park team, which had been struggling.

The final game of this two-game set will take place on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. EST on Horizon High School’s baseball field located in Winter Garden. The Diamond Dawgs are looking for their first back-to-back wins of the season. 

TJ French (University of Georgia)