sfoggi posted on July 09, 2011 22:43
WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (July 9, 2011) – The Winter Haven Loggerheads dropped a 5-3 decision to the first-place Leesburg Lightning Saturday night at Chain of Lakes Park.
Avoiding another potential shutout in the season, the Loggerheads went scoreless through the first five frames before putting up a lone run in the bottom of the sixth.
Leesburg starter Micah Kellogg (Flagler) was effective for the Lightning on the mound keeping the Loggerheads at bay in five complete innings, giving up one earned run. Kellogg (3-1) earned his third win of the season.
Closer and fellow Flagler teammate, Max Rusch, came on in the bottom of the eighth and shut the door on the Loggerheads to pick up his fourth save of the season. In his 1 2/3 innings of work, Rusch recorded three strikeouts, facing five batters.
The Lightning took an early 3-0 lead in the top of the third, followed by a run in the top of the sixth before Winter Haven was able to put up a run. Two of the runs in the third came off of the bat of Jacob Tillotson (Santa Fe), who crushed a ball over the right field fence. The lone run in the sixth for Leesburg was the Lightning’s second homer of the evening coming from Mike Miller (Dallas Baptist).
In the bottom of the sixth, leadoff batter Kyle Campbell (Stetson) laced a ball down the leftfield line to reach first and advanced to second on a stolen base. He then scored the Loggerheads’ first run on a Sam Halpern RBI single.
As the Lightning held a three-run advantage over the Loggerheads, Winter Haven would come within one in the bottom of the eighth. The Loggerheads put up a two-spot to push the score to 4-3.
Designated hitter Chris Pagliarulo (Boston College) started things off with a one-out single to left. Having faced two different Lightning pitchers thus far, Kevin Clements (Trinity) hit a single up the middle to move over Pagliarulo. Jonathan Hall (Trinity) loaded the bases for Winter Haven with another one-out single. Catcher Nick Geary (Georgetown) then plated a run on a bases loaded walk. Clements would score the final run of the evening on an Andrew Sterling (Dickinson College) sacrifice fly.
Combined, both teams tallied 21 hits with Leesburg collecting 11 and Winter Haven 10. With the loss, Winter Haven drops to 9-13 on the season, while Leesburg improves to 16-7 to hold onto first place in the Florida League standings.
Charged with the loss for Winter Haven was Peter Miller (Florida State, 2-2). The right-hander recorded six strikeouts in six innings of work and walked just one Lightning batter. Clayton Freimuth (Trinity) pitched the final three innings of play and gave up one earned run, while recording five punchouts.
The Loggerheads were led by Michael Heller (Miami-Dade) and Pagliarulo with two hits each. Pagliarulo added a run scored.
The Loggerheads will hit the road as they travel to Orlando to face the Freedom in a Sunday (July 10) doubleheader. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.