sfoggi posted on July 14, 2011 21:17
WINTER PARK, Fla. (July 14, 2011) - The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (16-6) defeated the Winter Haven Loggerheads Thursday night, 7-2.
“We played Diamond Dawgs baseball today,” said Head Coach Kevin Davidson.
Winter Park starting pitcher Ben Brown (University of Tampa) tossed five innings, giving up one unearned run on just two hits for his third win of the season.
“Ben Brown did his usual thing, he threw a lot of strikes,” said Davidson.
Brown’s counterpart, Bryan Poland (Benedictine College), got tagged with his second loss giving up three earned runs in seven innings.
The scoring began with the Loggerheads taking an early lead in the top of the third inning. Nick Geary (Georgetown) reached base to begin the inning on an error by the third baseman. Geary advanced to second on a Daniel Gonzales (Rice University) bunt single, and ended up scoring on the play due to an error by the first baseman.
However, the Diamond Dawgs grabbed the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, and never looked back. With one out and runners on second and third, Patrick McGavin (University of Alabama) hit a sacrifice fly to center field to tie the game at one run apiece. Alex Cruz (Georgia Tech) then hit a single to center field, plating another run, to make things 2-1. Cruz went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Ted Blackman (Coastal Carolina) got on base with a single to left field and proceeded to steal second. He then advanced to third on a ground ball hit to the first baseman and scored the Dawgs third run of the game on a balk. Blackman went 3-for-4 on the night with a run scored and three stolen bases.
The Loggerheads would chip away at Winter Park’s lead in the top of the sixth inning, scoring one run to keep things close at 3-2. That would be all Winter Haven would do at the dish for the remainder of the game, as the Diamond Dawgs answered right back with a run of their own.
“The focus and shutdown mentality was there today,” said Reed Reznicek (Indiana University).
Dustin DeMuth (Indiana University) led off the bottom of the frame with a double to right center, and would eventually come around to score on another McGavin sacrifice fly.
Winter Park tacked on three insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to put the ball game out of reach.
“[Stephen] Holden (Lake Sumter Community College) came in and did a great job, and our bats came alive,” said Davidson.
The Diamond Dawgs will begin a double header at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 15 on the road against the Leesburg Lightning.
Mitchell Adams (UCF)