sfoggi posted on July 09, 2011 21:57
WINTER PARK, Fla. (July 9, 2011) – The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (14-6) picked up their first win in a week against the Sanford River Rats (8-14), 10-3, on Saturday at Alfond Stadium.
“It’s a long season,” said Head Coach Kevin Davidson. “You’re going to go through these types of stretches.”
It was a full house for Bark in the Park Night at Alfond Stadium, as the Diamond Dawgs broke out in a big way.
The game resembled the last contest between both of these teams on June 28th, where things were close early, but the Diamond Dawgs eventually came out on top.
Jake Fisher (University of Oklahoma) picked up his first win of the season in four innings of relief. Fisher gave up two hits and struck out five.
“Fisher has done a great job for us,” said Davidson. “He’s a great arm.”
Sanford starting pitcher Bennie Sanchez (SCAD) gave up three runs in 5 1/3 innings, but got tagged with his second loss of the season.
In the early goings, the River Rats took a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning, and had a 2-0 lead in the sixth. Through the first five innings, the Diamond Dawgs had a couple of missed opportunities.
In the first and third innings, Winter Park had runners on first and second with one out, but could not bring home a run. However, the Dawgs finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The first Winter Park run came home on a one-out Michael Danner (Polk State College) walk. The Dawgs then took a 3-2 lead on a two-out Alex Cruz (Georgia Tech) single to right field, plating two more Diamond Dawgs. Cruz was 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, and two runs scored.
Immediately following Cruz’s at-bat, Ryne Knuth (Polk State College) hit an RBI single of his own. Two more runs scored in the inning on a fly ball hit by Ted Blackman (Coastal Carolina), which was dropped by the center fielder. Blackman was 2-for-5 with three stolen bases. After Winter Park brought 11 batters to the plate, the score was 6-2.
“It’s definitely good to know we have the fire power to come back late,” said Cruz.
However, the River Rats would draw closer in the top of the eighth inning. Ben Brown (University of Tampa) came in relief with the bases loaded and no outs, and got the Diamond Dawgs out of the jam in nine pitches. Sanford scored one run on a sacrifice fly by Austin Liput (South Carolina Upstate). Brown then got the ground ball he needed to induce an inning-ending double play.
Winter Park further distanced themselves in the bottom of the eighth by scoring four runs to build a seven run lead.
“When you have an offense like ours, you’ve got to be patient and trust that the offense is going to come alive at some point,” said Davidson.
The Diamond Dawgs will take on the DeLand Suns at home Sunday, July 10 at 1 p.m.
Mitchell Adams (UCF)