River Rats See Lead Vanish as Leesburg Storms Back
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 1 |
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3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
SANFORD, Fla. - The Sanford River Rats built a commanding early lead, but a late offensive explosion from the Leesburg Lightning erased the deficit as the Rats fell 12-9 on Tuesday night.
Sanford came out swinging in the first inning, as Drew Pynes started the scoring with an RBI single up the middle to plate Jordan Marlo. John Dobkowski followed with an RBI groundout before Zach Walker added another RBI groundout to give the River Rats a 3-0 advantage.
Leesburg got on the board in the third with a sacrifice fly from Kaden Thompson, but Sanford answered immediately with its biggest inning of the night. Jake Schincariol ripped a two-run double into the left-center-field gap and advanced to third on an error, allowing Drew Pynes and Nick Upperman to score. Dobkowski followed with an RBI single to cap the three-run inning and stretch the lead to 6-1.
The Lightning began to chip away over the middle innings. Charlie Keller launched a two-run home run in the fourth before Turner Gross added an RBI single in the fifth to trim Sanford's lead to 6-4.
The River Rats appeared to regain control in the bottom half of the fifth when Schincariol crushed a two-run home run to right field, extending the lead to 8-4. Sanford added another run in the sixth when Zach Walker scored on a wild pitch after Tyler Meyer drew a bases-loaded walk, making it 9-4.
Leesburg refused to go away.
After scoring on a balk in the seventh, the Lightning erupted for four runs in the eighth. Gross opened the rally with a solo home run before Keller blasted his second homer of the night, a two-run shot to right-center. Moments later, Marcello Cortale launched a two-run homer to left field, giving Leesburg its first lead of the game at 10-9.
The Lightning added two insurance runs in the ninth on consecutive bases-loaded walks to Gabriel Campos and Cory Banasiak, sealing the 12-9 comeback victory.
Sanford travels to Leesburg on Friday night for Game 2 of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Alejandro Landers (Elon University)