sfoggi posted on July 16, 2011 21:55
LEESBURG, Fla. (July 16, 2011) – The Sanford River Rats lost their final game in Leesburg as they fell 4-2 at Pat Thomas Stadium Saturday night.
After some early troubles, both starting pitchers settled in for a duel with both offenses fighting for an edge. In the end, it was a two-run eighth inning for Leesburg that was the deciding factor.
“Tonight was a great baseball game,” River Rats Head Coach Stephen Piercefield said. “Both starting pitchers threw the ball really well. We were able to get seven innings out of Ray Hanson (UCF), before he ran into the pitch-count. Both teams were able to capitalize a little bit early in the game and then it was slim pickings from then on out.”
Hanson threw seven innings, striking out four while keeping the first-place Lightning in check. Hanson started the eighth before Adam Maxon (Jacksonville) took over. Maxon notched another strikeout for the River Rats.
Zane Evans (Georgia Tech) had an RBI single in the first to score Mike Albaladejo (Florida Atlantic) before a Chase Durham (Howard College) single plated Evans for a 2-0 lead.
Leesburg starter Dylan Hathcock (UNC Greensboro) was on fire for the Lightning. Through 5 2/3 innings, Hathcock struck out 10 while issuing three walks. The Rats batters worked Hathcock, though, and he hit the pitch limit in the fifth.
TJ Gavlik (North Florida) had a two-RBI single in the third to score Dominic Attanasio (Clemson) and Ryan Brnovich (Saint Leo University) to tie the game at 2-2.
Things sat still until the eighth inning and a close call at the plate gave the Lightning the lead.
“We did a great job trying to minimize,” Piercefield said. [Michael Miller (Dallas Baptist)] laid down a great sacrifice bunt which allowed [Jacob Tillotson (Florida) and Albaladejo] to move up.”
A wild pitch hit the dirt and bounced past catcher Ryan Woodrey (Nova Southeastern).
“Woody did a great job going back to get it, Maxon did a great job covering the plate, but Tillotson ultimately was safe,” Piercefield said.
With runners at second and third, Piercefield made the decision to intentionally walk Durham to load the bases.
“It never is an easy choice to make,” Piercefield said. “We were in a one-run ballgame with one out. Basically, at that point, a ground ball scores runs and I wanted to make sure we had a double play situation set up. It’s never easy to put go-ahead runs on base, but I thought it was a necessary evil.”
Left fielder John Beary (Pensacola State) then took an unintentional walk that sent Albaladejo home for the final score of the 4-2 contest.
“We’re doing a great job getting the little things done,” Piercefield said. “We just didn’t get one hit here or there and it came back to bite us in the end.”
Sanford (9-16-1) will close out the week at home with a rematch against Leesburg (19-9) at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. Taylor Smith (Rollins) is the probable starter for Sanford.
Neil Tredray (Valencia College)