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SANFORD, FL — The Sanford River Rats were unable to keep up with the high-powered hitting from the DeLand Suns as they drop Tuesday night’s matchup 9-3 at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

The River Rats started the game on fire with a solo home run from the second batter, Justin Farmer (FIU), in the bottom of the first inning. Farmer started off the season slow going one for his first 12 has gotten six hits in his last 15 at-bats.

“I’m really just trying to focus and I’m clear-minded now [following the commitment],” Farmer said. “I’m really focused on hitting the ball hard and got good wood on the ball.”

Farmer’s recent hot hitting came after he committed to play baseball next year for FIU.

“You could tell that he [Farmer] was starting to think about the [MLB] draft a lot,” River Rats assistant coach Shane Letterio said. “The week that he took off probably did him a lot of good. He could regroup, and his swing is starting to come around.”

Jarrod Cande (Florida Southern) was walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning which scored Jarod Herron (Rollins) who was at third base. With Herron’s run, the River Rats had a 2-0 lead going into the third inning and starting pitcher Joel Rivero (St. Thomas) had allowed no hits.

Then, the Suns unleashed their offense in the top of the third.

The Suns scored four runs in the inning which began with a Joe Burke (Kentucky Wesleyan) line drive home run as the second hitter of the inning. The remaining three runs of the third all came with two outs as Hunter Fornari (Florida Gulf Coast), Peter Hutzal (Marshall) and Mark Townsend (Stetson) all scored for the Suns.

With the 4-2 lead, the Suns never looked back, and they never relinquished the lead thanks to an outstanding relief performance from Nathan Palmer (Seminole State).

Palmer was forced to start his day early as Suns starting pitcher Garett Priestly (Marshall) was pulled after one out in the top of the second inning. From there, Palmer took over and pitched five and two-thirds innings where he only allowed two hits and one earned run.

The only other offensive production from the River Rats after the first two innings came from Francis Villaman (FIU) in the bottom of the sixth inning. Villaman earned the first hit off of Priestly, and the hit was a high-flying ball that cleared the left field fence giving Villaman his first home run of the season.

With two-run innings in the eighth and ninth, the four total runs would end up locking up the victory for the Suns. The River Rats never seemed to recover after going down early in the top of the third.

“It was tough to get into a rhythm out there,” Letterio said. “Early on, we were hitting the ball… pitching-wise we should’ve gotten out of a lot of innings a lot faster than we did.”

The Sanford River Rats (4-9) were officially swept by the DeLand Suns (10-3) in the two-game series, but the River Rats can bounce back Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. against the Leesburg Lightning at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

Zach Miles (University of Georgia)