River Rats Demolish Squeeze in Game 1

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – The Winter Garden Squeeze saw their postseason hopes pushed to the brink Tuesday night, falling 14-1 to the Sanford River Rats in Game 1 of the Florida Collegiate Summer League semifinal series at Horizon Park.

Sanford seized control from the opening inning and never let up, scoring three runs in the first and adding five more in the second to build an 8-0 lead.

The River Rats opened the scoring on a two-run home run by Adonys Velez before Enzo Ercole added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

Sanford continued to pile on in the second, highlighted by an RBI single from John Dobkowski and a two-run single by AJ Seymour. Seymour finished 1-for-2 with two RBIs and two walks as the River Rats extended their advantage to 8-0.

The River Rats added three more runs in the third before Drew Pynes delivered the decisive blow in the fourth, clearing the bases with a three-run double to stretch the lead to 14-0.

Winter Garden broke through in the bottom of the fourth when Alex Galan drove in his 27th RBI of the season with a groundout, preventing the shutout and trimming the deficit to 14-1.

Sanford starter Brian Kendall dominated on the mound, allowing one unearned run on four hits over six innings while striking out six to earn the win.

The loss puts the Squeeze one game away from elimination. Winter Garden will travel to Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium for Game 2 on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. needing a victory to extend the series to a decisive third game. Another Sanford win would send the River Rats to the FCSL Championship Series.

Zach Moore (University of Florida)