Lightning Rally Past Snappers Behind Dominant Bullpen
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 5 | 1 |
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Leesburg Lightning erased a one-run deficit with a two-run sixth inning and leaned on a dominant bullpen to defeat the Orlando Snappers 5-4 on Thursday night at The First Academy, improving to 23-10.
Leesburg struck first with two runs in the opening inning. Matthew Dumas led off with a double and scored on Marcello Cortale's RBI groundout before Preston Murphy lined an RBI single to right to make it 2-0.
The Lightning added another run in the second when Cory Banasiak doubled and later scored on Ledger Pleasant's RBI single, extending the lead to 3-0.
The Snappers answered in the third as James Hankerson Jr. launched a three-run home run to tie the game. An inning later, Danny Garcia gave Orlando its first lead of the night with a solo homer, putting the Snappers ahead 4-3.
Leesburg responded in the sixth against reliever Michael Surane. Murphy and Daniel Despaine reached before Hayden Gustavson lined a two-run single to center, scoring both runners to put the Lightning back in front, 5-4.
The bullpen took over from there.
JD Aragort settled the game after Orlando took the lead, striking out six over two innings to earn the victory. Josh Cone followed with three scoreless innings, striking out six of the nine batters he faced, and Cole Jones struck out two in a perfect ninth for his first save of the season.
The Lightning pitching staff combined for 17 strikeouts, matching one of the team's highest totals of the summer. Bryan Burtoft struck out three over the first three innings before Aragort, Cone and Jones combined to allow just one hit over the final six innings while striking out 14.
Dumas paced the offense with two hits and two walks, while Dylan Green also collected two hits. Gustavson drove in the go-ahead runs, Murphy finished with an RBI and two runs scored, and Pleasant added an RBI single.
Leesburg continues its regular-season-ending series with Orlando on Friday at 7 p.m. at The First Academy.
Adam Rothschild (Susquehanna University)