sfoggi posted on July 02, 2011 21:19
SANFORD, Fla. (July 2, 2011) – The Sanford River Rats split a doubleheader versus the Winter Haven Loggerheads, losing the first game 6-4 and winning the second game 3-0, at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium Saturday night.
The win marked Sanford’s first shutout of the year, and their second win in three games over Winter Haven.
“Anytime you get wins in a doubleheader is great,” River Rats Head Coach Stephen Piercefield said. “Winter Haven’s a great team. They’re scrappy and fight to the last out. Any time you can get two out of three is nice; it gets us going in the right direction.”
The Loggerheads (8-12) had to fight back in the first game after the River Rats did some battling of their own to tie the game in the sixth.
Kyle Foti (Flagler) and Dominic Attanasio (Clemson) scored the game’s opening runs in the third.
Winter Haven responded in the fourth as three consecutive batters - Sam Halpern (Barry University), Sean O’Brien (Florida State), and Cody Slaughter (Brown University) - scored runs to give the Loggerheads the lead. Slaughter scored a second run to make it a 4-2 ballgame.
“Overall, I thought we did a tremendous job keeping our focus through all 15 innings. In the first game, we did a nice job of battling the whole time,” Piercefield said.
The River Rats (8-11-1) tied it up in the sixth with Johnny Mazur (Florida Tech) and Austin Liput (USC Upstate) scoring on a single from Attansio. Neither team scored in the seventh, so the game became the first extra-innings game of the River Rats’ 2011 season.
Kevin Clements (Trinity University) broke the tie in the top of the eighth with a solo home run and Andrew Sterling (Dickinson College) scored on a Justin Burgess (Montevallo) single to cap the scoring.
“Those guys put some great swings on the ball late in the game,” Piercefield said.
Sanford starter Taylor Smith (Rollins) worked through five innings, striking out five and walking one.
The second game was a 3-0 victory for the Rats, their first shutout of the season. Ryan Heinz (George Washington), Adam Albers (St. Leo University), and Adam Maxon (Jacksonville) combined for seven scoreless innings. Heinz earned the win after five innings with two strikeouts and one walk; Maxon got his second save after a three-up, three-down seventh that included a strikeout.
“[Pitching Coach] Esteban Bejarano has done a great job putting together our rotation and making sure all the relievers are being used in the right spots,” Piercefield said. “He’s done a great job this whole season of making sure our relievers are ready to go when their number is called.”
Alex Mendez (South Florida) led things off with a single in the first and scored on a Dan Haverstick (Rhode Island) single. Mendez scored a second run in the fifth after an error on a throw from third.
Despite both teams having a spate of errors lately, it was the only error for both teams all day.
“Both clubs today played better baseball defensively,” Piercefield said. “Guys are making sure they get their work in to minimize mistakes as we keep moving forward. Tonight we were able to come up with the plays when we needed to.”
The final Rats run came from an Ian MacGeorge (Embry-Riddle) solo home run in the sixth.
“He was able to work the at-bat, get his pitch, and put a great swing on it,” Piercefield said. “It was an insurance run to get us up by three that makes it a little tougher to fight back from.”
Sanford’s next game is against the Orlando Freedom (6-15) at Orel Hershiser Field at The First Academy Sunday at 5 p.m. Brandon Cowan is the probable starter for Sanford.
Neil Tredray (Valencia College)