sfoggi posted on July 27, 2011 20:57
DELAND, Fla. (July 27, 2011) – In the bottom of the ninth, the Winter Haven Loggerheads suffered a 5-4 loss to the DeLand Suns at Melching Field at Conrad Park on Wednesday night.
As the Loggerheads stood in a three-way tie for fourth in the Florida League standings prior to the start of today’s contest, the loss drops Winter Haven to the bottom and one game behind Orlando and Sanford.
In the early goings, Winter Haven did not have much juice left in them from the night before, as they scored a lone run in the second and were scoreless through the following four frames.
As the Suns (20-17) held a 3-1 lead over the Loggerheads, Winter Haven rallied back in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 3-all.
With one out and Sam Halpern (Barry) at first, Cody Slaughter (Brown) and Kevin Clements (Trinity) notched back-to-back base knocks; as Clements plated Halpern to put Winter Haven back by one run. Head Coach Nick Vera made a change in the lineup and substituted Sean O’Brien (Florida State) for catcher Nick Geary (Georgetown). A wild pitch by Gage Smith (Florida State) moved all base runners 90 feet into scoring position. Pinch-hitter O’Brien then laced a ball through the left side, driving in Clements to tie the score.
It wouldn’t take long for DeLand to come back and break the tie as the Suns scored a run in the home half of the inning to take a 4-3 lead.
The Loggerheads (12-22) would not go down without a fight and tied the score once again at four runs apiece in the top of the ninth as Jonathan Hall (Trinity) scored on a bases clearing double by Clements, his second RBI of the night. Clements led the club with two hits.
In the bottom of the ninth, Loggerheads pitcher Mike Muha (Saint Joseph’s) gave up a base hit to the leadoff batter and recorded an out in the second batter faced of the inning. A costly error allowed Aaron Silbar (Columbia) to reach first to place runners on the corners. A hit batsman would load the bases and would be the end for Muha. Brady Rodriguez (Abilene Christian) was handed the ball to shut the door on the Suns, but gave up a hit to Bryan Adametz (Palm Beach State), advancing Andre Colon (Lynn) to home on a questionable call. Colon’s run ended the game with one out on the board.
Muha was charged with the loss as he gave up two runs on three hits in 2 1/3 innings, while Dane Stone (St. Thomas) earned the win in one inning of work.
The Loggerheads will return to Chain of Lakes Thursday (July 28) as they host square off against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 5 p.m.