Late Inning Surge Sends Rats Past Squeeze

SANFORD, Fla. - The Sanford River Rats snapped their four-game losing streak with a 7-1 victory over the Winter Garden Squeeze on Monday, thanks to a dominant start from Chase Marsh and a five-run eighth inning.

After three scoreless innings, Sanford broke through in the fourth. With runners on base, Adonys Velez lined a single to left field, driving in John Dobkowski and Drew Pynes. Velez advanced to second on the throw as the River Rats grabbed a 2-0 lead.

Marsh was in complete control on the mound, tossing five scoreless innings while striking out six batters. The right-hander allowed the defense to work behind him and improved to 2-2 on the season with one of his strongest outings of the summer.

Winter Garden finally got on the board in the sixth, scoring an unearned run when Cael Reish reached on a fielder's choice that brought home Alexander Galan, trimming the deficit to 2-1.

While it felt like the momentum was shifting toward the Squeeze, Zach Walker had other plans.

With two runners aboard, Walker blasted a three-run home run to right field, scoring John Dobkowski and Cooper Pitman to extend the lead to 5-1. The River Rats kept the pressure on as Caleb Scott followed with an RBI single to right-center field, plating Adonys Velez, before Tyler Meyer capped the inning with an RBI double into the right-center-field gap to score Scott and make it 7-1.

That proved to be the nail in the coffin, as Tyler Garcia tossed a scoreless ninth inning to close out the ballgame.

Sanford returns home Tuesday for a doubleheader against the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs, with the first game scheduled for 4 p.m.

Alejandro Landers (Elon University)