sfoggi posted on July 14, 2011 21:37
SANFORD, Fla. (July 14, 2011) – The Sanford River Rats avoided a shutout in a 4-1 loss to the DeLand Suns at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium Thursday night.
Sanford (9-15-1) had previously played 17 scoreless innings against DeLand (14-12), but TJ Gavlik (North Florida) singled to lead off the ninth and moved to second on a wild pitch before an Ian MacGeorge (Embry-Riddle) single plated him to cap the game’s scoring at 4-1.
The Suns scored two runs on two errors in the first. Stephen Bellantoni (USC-Aiken) came home on a catcher’s error and Bryan Adametz (Palm Beach State) scored on a shortstop error. JT Warmoth (Embry-Riddle) scored on an Adametz double.
“DeLand came out in the first inning and were able to capitalize on our mistakes and really didn’t give us a chance to get back into the ballgame,” River Rats Head Coach Stephen Piercefield said.
The score sat at 3-0 until the sixth when Adametz scored his second run off an Austen Barber (Winthrop) single.
The Rats were hampered by the fact that at least five players were unavailable to play for various reasons, leading to some interesting substitutions. Pitcher Ray Hanson (UCF), for example, took over at first base for the final three innings.
“It’s been a fun summer,” Piercefield said with a laugh. “We had some guys out tonight and had to ask a couple of others to do some different things. I’m glad we were able to make some of those moves, but at the same time you wish you didn’t have to. It was a little bit of a weird game.”
Sanford got some needed help from newcomer Ryan Brnovich (Saint Leo University). Brnovich went 2-for-4 with a stolen base in his first home game for the Rats.
“Brnovich is a hard-nose guy; he plays a solid defense,” Piercefield added. “He’s a switch-hitter who can run. He’s a very nice addition at this point in the season.”
Sanford’s next game is another home contest on Friday, July 15, this one against the Orlando Freedom (9-17). First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
Neil Tredray (Valencia College)