Suns' Late Rally Falls Short
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 13 | 17 | 2 |
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0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
DELAND, Fla. — The DeLand Suns' late-inning comeback attempt fell short Thursday night as the Sanford River Rats completed a midweek series sweep with a 13-11 victory.
Early on, the outlook was not promising for the Suns as Sanford scored five runs in the first inning. The River Rats extended their lead to 6-0 with another run in the second.
Facing an early deficit, DeLand cut the Sanford lead in half in the third inning. Devon Crown (Mississippi Christian) led off the frame with a single. Crown advanced to second on a balk, stole third and scored the Suns' first run by capitalizing on a throwing error by the River Rats catcher.
Nate Ricko (Pasco-Hernando State) drew a walk, stole second and third, and later scored on a wild pitch. DeLand capped the inning's scoring when Shane Thomas (Undecided) doubled home Boomer Rogozinski (Stetson), trimming the deficit to 6-3.
Sanford answered by adding one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth, building a 10-3 lead after six innings.
The Suns added a run in the seventh after Torin Foley (Embry-Riddle) led off with a single. Foley stole second before scoring on an RBI single by Blue Hunter (Rollins), cutting the deficit to 10-4.
The River Rats responded with two runs in the top of the eighth, making it a 12-4 game heading into the bottom half of the inning.
Facing the run rule, the DeLand offense erupted for seven runs in the eighth. The first six batters reached base on a combination of singles, walks and hit batters, keeping the bases loaded before Sanford recorded an out.
A two-out RBI single by Ricko scored two runs and capped the Suns' scoring in the inning, cutting the River Rats' lead to 12-11.
Sanford added an insurance run in the ninth inning to extend its lead to two.
In the bottom of the ninth, DeLand went down in order, unable to complete the comeback.
Offensively, Shane Thomas, Bryce Pasternak and Devon Crown each recorded two-hit performances. Ricko and Crown also drove in two runs apiece.
With its third consecutive loss, DeLand fell to 5-8, while Sanford improved to 4-10.
The two teams are next scheduled to meet July 13 in DeLand.
The Suns return to action Friday when they host the Orlando Snappers.
J.C. Fox (Mississippi Christian University)