Lightning Continue First-Place Chase with Win Over Sanford

SANFORD, Fla.-The Leesburg Lightning (12-7) continued their hot streak and chase for first place in the standings on the road Thursday night, with a 6-2 win over the first place Sanford River Rats (12-5). 

The Lightning led from wire-to-wire in this matchup, as Austin Brinling (South Carolina) got the offense rolling with and RBI single that scored Tyler LeJeune (Northwest Florida State) to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. 

That one run scored by Leesburg would be all that Lightning starting pitcher Danny Rodriguez (Undecided) would need as he put together a dominant performance in his first start of the season, throwing four innings of no-hit baseball, while also striking out four. 

“Starting versus coming out of the bullpen was an adjustment for me, just because of the time management factor, but I think I adjusted well,” Rodriguez said. “It makes it so much easier when the offense goes out and gets a lead early because you just have to go out and throw strikes.” 

The Lightning would tack on two more runs in the fourth inning, as a single by Logan Chapman (Georgia Tech) would score both Gabriel Santiago (Coker) and Michael Furry (St. Johns River State) to extend the Leesburg lead to 3-0. 

Chapman finished the game, going 3-4 with two RBIs on the night.

Leesburg has been the fastest team in the league so far this season, as they have stolen a league-leading 63 bases on the season. They used this to their advantage in the sixth inning, as both Brinling and Santiago came around to score on the same wild pitch to extend the Lightning lead to 5-0. 

The River Rats would cut into the Lightning lead with two runs in the seventh inning, but Leesburg would respond with one more insurance run in the eight inning on another wild pitch, this time scoring Drew Stubbs (Webber International) and extending the lead to 6-2. 

Riley Fitzgerald (Flagler) and Grant Edwards (New Orleans) came on to close the game out, and the Lightning moved one game closer to first place in the standings, taking game one of the series from Sanford, 6-2. 

“I think there is only as much pressure as these guys put on themselves,” Leesburg Lightning Head Coach Rich Billings said. “It was good to see our team come out after a break and play well, these guys bounced back really well from the break and played really hard tonight.”

The Lightning will be back in action Friday night in game two of the series with Sanford. First pitch is set for 7 PM at Pat Thomas Stadium in Leesburg, Florida. 

(Carter Mansfield, Austin Peay State University)

Carter Mansfield - 06/30/23 3:30am

Return to News