FloridaLeague posted on June 09, 2010 06:19
Patrick Murray (Tennessee)
Stephen Bellantoni (USC-Aiken) knocked a pitch into right field and JT Warmoth raced around third to score and give the Suns (1-3) their first win of the season in the 12th inning on Tuesday night.
Warmoth (Embry Riddle) led the Suns with three hits. The sophomore also had a walk and RBI and played three infield positions.
“He’s shown what kind of player he is already,” head coach Rick Hall said of Warmoth. “He knows how to play the game, he’s an aggressive player, he’s confident. He’s been a big plus for us already in just the two days he’s been here. We’re real excited about him.”
DeLand had to battle back from two deficits to send the game into extra innings.
The Suns lost a 1-0 lead in the sixth when a leadoff double by Kelvin Clark (Florida Southern) and several throwing errors led to three Sanford runs. DeLand battled back in the bottom half with back to back singles to start the half-inning from Andrew Jones and Hunter Smith, both from College of Central Florida.
Jones scored when Chandler McClaren (Volunteer State) reached on an error. Warmoth drove home Smith with a single to tie the game at three.
The River Rats regained the lead in the seventh. Tyler Benzel (Florida Southern) was credited with a leadoff double when his sharp ground ball took a bad hop, hit third baseman Jeff Moyer (Santa Fe CC) in the face and deflected off towards the Suns dugout. Moyer went to the hospital with a broken nose but is expected to be ready to return to the lineup within a few days. Benzel scored on the ensuing single by Austin Chubb (State College of Florida).
Bryan Adametz (Palm Beach State) replaced Moyer and drilled a double deep to left to lead off the bottom of the seventh but was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple. Adametz responded by leading off the ninth inning with another double. When Jones reached on an error by the shortstop, Adametz scored to send the game to extra innings.
Adametz has had defensive troubles but now leads the Suns with a .385 batting average.
“He knows he’s been struggling and he stepped up and came up big with two big hits. That showed me good character right there and I’m proud of him,” Hall said.
Jake Meiers (Florida Atlantic) picked up the win for the Suns, throwing three scoreless innings on the day he arrived in DeLand. The Florida Atlantic freshman walked one and struck out three.
Jordan Rasinski (UCF) will take the mound tomorrow when the Suns travel to Leesburg to take on the Lightning at 7 pm.