College baseball: Leesburg Lightning top Suns 6-2 in series opener
THE VILLAGES — The Leesburg Lightning returned to their winning ways Thursday afternoon with a 6-2 victory over the DeLand Suns at The Villages Charter High School.
Leesburg took game one of the series, improving to 7-5 while extending the Suns’ remained winless in their first nine games of the season.
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After jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, Leesburg would surrender a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back sacrifice flies.
The go-ahead hit came from Lightning outfielder Marco Dinges in the third inning as he lined a ball into the left center gap for a 3-2 lead. Leesburg had one of its best offensive efforts of the season with 10 hits.
Leesburg’s starter, southpaw Matt Dadlani tossed the first two innings, allowing two runs on no hits with one strikeout. In the third, a call to the bullpen was made and right-hander Layton Perry came out firing.
Perry delivered four scoreless frames, allowing just two hits and two strikeouts. He picked up his second win of the season and lowered his ERA to 2.25.
“I just had to focus on pounding the (strike) zone,” Perry said. “Trying to get ahead and making them beat me with their bats.”
The big day offensively came from catcher Travis Stapleton. The former South Lake High School standout went 3-for-4, with two runs scored and picked up his fourth double of the year.
“Biggest thing for me is staying aggressive,” Stapleton said. “If I see it in the zone, I'm putting my best swing on it and good things happen.”
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Three other Lightning batters had multi-hit games; Gabe Esquivel, Ian Thornton, and Michael Furry. Esquivel, who had two hits, drove in the opening run of the ballgame with an RBI single in the first.
Leesburg would score once more in the first on a fielder’s choice from third baseman Quinn Petty.
Thornton finished 2-for-4 with a double, and Furry had two hits, while driving in a run in the fourth inning.
Leesburg would add two more on a botched pickoff move in the sixth that scored Thornton from third, followed by an RBI groundout from second baseman Gabe Santiago.
“The difference was our approach, I thought we were really locked in,” Stapleton said. “We shortened our swings a little bit, moved runners over and drove guys in, that’s how you win.”
The back end of Leesburg’s bullpen was just as sharp as Perry. Casey Daiss hurled the seventh and eighth innings, striking out four, without allowing only one hit.
DeLand managed just three hits in the loss.
Fan favorite and closer Connor Gleeson finished things off with a solid ninth inning. The native of New Zealand struck out and gave one hit.
In five appearances, Gleeson has struck out nine batters in five innings, allowing just two hits and no runs.
Tom Cavanaugh is the communications intern for the Leesburg Lightning.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: College baseball: Leesburg Lightning defeat Suns in series opener
