Sanford Hitters Ambush Winter Garden in Game 1 Rout

WINTER GARDEN, Fla. – The Sanford River Rats opened the Florida Collegiate Summer League semifinals in dominant fashion Tuesday night, defeating the Winter Garden Squeeze 14-1 in Game 1 of the best-of-three series.

Sanford's offense erupted early, scoring at least three runs in each of the first four innings to take control from the outset.

Adonys Velez opened the scoring with a two-run home run to left-center field in the first inning, bringing home Jordan Marlo for a 2-0 lead. Later in the frame, Enzo Ercole added a sacrifice fly to score Drew Pynes and extend the advantage to 3-0.

The River Rats broke the game open with a five-run second inning. Tyler Meyer lifted a sacrifice fly to score Marlo before John Dobkowski lined an RBI single to right-center. Ercole was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to force in another run, and AJ Seymour capped the inning with a two-run single through the left side, giving Sanford an 8-0 lead.

Sanford continued to pour it on in the third. Meyer drew a bases-loaded walk to score Caleb Scott before Dobkowski collected his second RBI single of the night. Michael Thomas followed with a sacrifice fly to push the lead to 11-0.

The River Rats delivered the knockout blow in the fourth when Pynes ripped a three-run double into the right-center field gap, scoring Velez, Marlo and Seymour to make it 14-0.

Winter Garden avoided the shutout in the bottom of the fourth when Alexander Galan drove in the Squeeze's lone run with an RBI groundout. The run was unearned.

Brian Kendall turned in another dominant performance for Sanford, allowing just one unearned run over six innings while striking out six to earn the victory.

With the win, the River Rats take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three semifinal series. Game 2 is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium, where Sanford can clinch a berth in the FCSL Championship Series while Winter Garden faces elimination.

Alejandro Landers (Elon University)