Snappers Poison River Rats in Unorthodox Season Opener

The Orlando Snappers opened the 2026 Florida Collegiate Summer League season with a 9-7 win over the Sanford River Rats, and it might have been the most unorthodox way to win a game. Then again, it might have perfectly summed up what summer ball is all about.

The 7 p.m. game started as expected: it didn't. A 75-minute lightning delay stalled the season opener at The First Academy until Gavin Meyer hurled the first pitch at 8:15 under gloomy skies. Meyer pitched in game action for the first time since high school, and he did not disappoint as the Opening Day starter. He fired 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs on a three-run home run by catcher Drew Pynes.

The Snappers matched those three runs in the bottom half of the fourth with a walk brigade. They drew five walks in the inning alone to tie the game. Walks were a theme throughout the night, as 14 Snappers reached base on balls over six innings of hitting.

Heading into the bottom of the sixth, Orlando once again found itself in a hole. Sanford notched four runs in the top of the sixth to give the River Rats a four-run lead, and the Snappers still had a goose egg in the hit column. In stepped Logan Chalk, the 6-foot-3, 225-pound two-way player. Chalk grounded a ball to third and turned on the wheels to leg out an infield single, breaking up Sanford's no-hit bid. However, that was far from Chalk's last highlight of the win.

Orlando rallied for six runs in the bottom of the sixth, using a combination of great plate discipline and heady baserunning. That gave the Snappers a two-run cushion heading into the top of the seventh, the final inning of the weather-shortened contest. Orlando had minimal pitching depth heading into opening weekend and saw two of its three healthy pitchers work through the first six innings of Game 1. That left three outs to be recorded, and the man who produced the first hit of the season was ready to end the night with a bang.

Logan Chalk climbed onto the mound, not having thrown a pitch in more than two years. He struck out the side on three fastballs, securing the save for the Snappers and the first win of the 2026 season. Chalk pumped his chest and emphatically celebrated his way off the mound after strikeout number three, putting the appropriate exclamation point on the comeback win.

Fourteen walks, two hits, nine runs, three pitchers available, one win. Exactly the type of night the Florida League has come to expect, and a perfect example of what wins in the summer: grit.

The Snappers began their 2026 title defense with an Opening Night victory and will look to find more Rat poison tomorrow as they head back to Sanford for a 7 p.m. start at Sanford Memorial Stadium.

Theo Shernoff (University of Michigan)