Ricko's Walk-Off Allows Suns to Steal Victory

DELAND, Fla. — It appeared the Winter Garden Squeeze were poised to return to the win column Saturday night. Leading 4-2 with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, reliever Jacob Cali, making his debut, was one strike away from securing the victory.

But Nate Ricko had other plans.

The DeLand two-way standout ripped a ball down the right-field line, scoring two runs and tying the game. Ricko slid into third with a triple, but an errant throw by the Squeeze defense allowed him to race home with the winning run, completing a Little League-style walk-off inside-the-park home run.

Behind the dramatic finish, the DeLand Suns (14-15) moved into sole possession of second place in the Florida League with a 5-4 victory over the Winter Garden Squeeze (14-16), who fell back into third place.

For most of the night, the game was a classic pitchers' duel between Nick DeLucia of DeLand and Brady Montrowl of Winter Garden. The two starters combined for 14 strikeouts, with DeLucia recording six and Montrowl eight.

DeLand struck first when Bryce Pasternack lined an RBI single into right-center field to score Trey Seluk. The Suns added another run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Shane Thomas, which brought home Blue Hunter and made it 2-0.

Winter Garden chipped away in the middle innings. Peyson Garcia lifted a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one, and in the seventh inning, Brody Bellomo tied the game with a sacrifice fly of his own.

The Squeeze briefly grabbed the lead in the top of the eighth. With the courtesy runner at second, Alex Galan lined an RBI double into left field to put Winter Garden ahead 3-2. Ayden Elixson followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the advantage to 4-2 before DeLand's late rally unfolded in the bottom half.

Winter Garden returns to action Monday night against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (13-16-1). First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Alfond Stadium.

Zach Moore (University of Florida)