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DELAND, Fla. - The DeLand Suns emerge victorious from the play-in game as they claim a tight 3-2 victory over the Winter Garden Squeeze. 

 

With the play-in game, it was winner take all. The victorious move on while the defeated go home. Down 2-1 in the eighth, it looked like the Suns’ summer was coming to an end. But with hope remaining, Osmin Melendez (Undecided) knocked a leadoff single to give DeLand a chance. William Rollings (Undecided) followed with a single of his own and soon the bases were loaded after Connor O’Sullivan worked a walk. With the bases loaded and no outs, Winter Garden made a call to the bullpen. The new arm immediately struck out the next batter, meaning a weak grounder would shut the door on DeLand. Daniel Baez (FAU) battled to bring in the tying run, working an eight pitch at-bat for an RBI walk. Late in the eighth, it was a brand new ball game. With a chance to take the lead, Michael O’Brien bounced one off the mound to score Rollings and give the Suns a 3-2 lead.

 

“We went through an 11-game losing streak and for us to get to this point and put up two in the eighth shows the resiliency of this team. Now we have the opportunity to go play the best team in the league and state our case.” - Coach Cameron Jergens

 

The Squeeze were now down going into the ninth and it would be Joey Ervin (Chipola) to come back out and shut things down in his second inning of work. Ervin retired the first batter he saw but a one-out single by Isaac Incinelli (St. Johns River State) kept things interesting with his second hit of the game. Ervin retired the next batter, but with two outs, Cole Steinmetz (Valdosta State) put the tying run on second and represented the go-ahead at first. With no room for error, Ervin forced weak contact for a groundout to secure the victory. 

 

“It worked well for Joey to face their top in the eighth and go on to get six outs to take us home.” - Coach Cameron Jergens

 

Winter Garden struck first in the second with Incinelli knocking a double and advancing to third with a stolen base. A groundout scored him to bring across the first run of the game. They tacked on another in the fifth but the Suns answered back in their half of the frame, with Holden Brauner (Undecided) collecting a double of his own and eventually coming around to put DeLand on the board.

 

Standouts for the Suns include Brauner who went 2-3 with two doubles and a run scored. Ervin earned the W with two innings of shutout baseball. Only allowing two hits whilst striking out two of his own. Mattox Meeks (Florida Gulf Coast) had a solid start on the mound. In 5.2 innings of work he allowed two runs off of six hits and a walk. Meeks struck out three in his outing.

 

“We’re in the mode to get towards the end, and if we have the shot, go win the thing. That’s how we’ve done it all year.” - Coach Cameron Jergens on facing Sanford

 

The DeLand suns now look to take on the No.1 Sanford River Rats in a three game set. Game one will be at Sanford Memorial Stadium on June 22, at 6:30 PM

 

Adrian Delgado (UCF)