Sanford Bats Silenced in 6-1 Loss

LEESBURG, Fla. - The Sanford River Rats struck first on Friday night, but the Leesburg Lightning took control early and rode a dominant pitching performance to a 6-1 victory.

Sanford opened the scoring in the first inning when John Dobkowski singled to third, driving home Jordan Marlo after Drew Pynes reached earlier in the inning.

Leesburg answered immediately in the bottom half. Hudson Reed tied the game with a sacrifice fly before Dylan Green delivered the biggest hit of the inning, lining a two-run single up the middle to give the Lightning a 3-1 advantage. An outfield throwing error on the sacrifice fly also allowed an extra runner to advance, contributing to the rally.

The Lightning added to their lead in the fifth. Andon Gray doubled into the right-center-field gap to score Marcello Cortale before Charlie Keller lifted a sacrifice fly to right field, extending Leesburg's lead to 5-1.

Leesburg added its final run in the sixth when Marcello Cortale reached on a fielder's choice, allowing Dylan Green to score and make it 6-1.

Sanford's offense went cold, as River Rats hitters struck out 18 times, including eight against Leesburg pitcher Carson Henrikson, who came on in relief and improved to 3-0 on the season after allowing just two hits and no earned runs over 3.1 innings.

The series concludes Saturday evening in Sanford, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

Alejandro Landers (Elon University)