College baseball: Lightning fall to Dawgs 3-1 for second straight loss
ORLANDO — The Leesburg Lightning dropped its second straight game, a 3-1 decision to Winter Park Thursday at Orlando Lake Highland Prep.
Leesburg, which won its first five games of the season, fell to 5-2 on the season, while Winter Park improved to 4-2.
The game was the first meeting between the Lightning and Diamond Dawgs since Leesburg blasted Winter Park 9-1 on Aug. 1, 2021 to win the FCSL Championship.
Champions: Lightning dominate Diamond Dawgs to win 3rd FCSL title in franchise history
Summer college baseball: Leesburg blanked by Squeeze in first FCSL loss of season
After grabbing the early 1-0 lead in the second inning, the Lightning would fail to cross the plate again as the Winter Park pitching staff turned in its best game of the season.
Diamond Dawgs starting pitcher Gavin Galy silenced the Leesburg offense with five solid innings, allowing just one run on four hits. Winter Park kept a short bullpen as senior pitcher Will Morris earned the win, closing out the last four scoreless frames with five strikeouts.
The Dawgs would answer back in the bottom half of the second inning on a passed ball to tie the game and would break the 1-1 deadlock with a pair of runs in the sixth. An RBI double from Kyle Mock paired with a throwing error on the following play gave Winter Park a 3-1 lead.
That score would hold as the hitting struggles continued for the Lightning, putting together one run on nine hits and striking out 13 times. Executing with runners on base proved to be Leesburg’s kryptonite throughout the ballgame.
“We just have to do a better job of barreling the ball up, especially with runners in scoring position.” Lightning manager Rich Billings said.
Junior first baseman Gabe Esquivel had a good night at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with a double. Esquivel’s first multi-hit game of the season and seems to be hitting his stride for the Lightning.
“He’s a guy that we have to have in the lineup,” Billings said. “He’s good at driving in runs and hitting the middle of the lineup so we look forward to more opportunities for him to drive guys in.”
Another two-hit game came from infielder Gabe Santiago, who finished 2-for-4 with a stolen base. “Santi” is 3 for his last 8 at-bats and boosted his batting average to .333.
The pitching staff kept Leesburg in the ballgame all night, allowing just three runs on five hits. Sophomore pitcher Matt Dadlani made his second start of the year, going 3 2/3 innings with just one hit and one run. The crafty lefty struck out two and walked three.
Senior right-hander Heston Mosley came in to record the final out of the fourth. Billings praised the pitchers and commented on the dilemma that the Lightning face on both sides of the diamond.
“It’s tough because the pitchers are in a situation where they feel like they have to go out and be perfect,” Billings said. “It's a hard position to put pitchers in but they are handling it really well and the hitters will come out of it soon.”
The loss would go to junior right-hander Ivan VanBeverhoudt Jr., the third of five pitchers used by the Lightning. After exiting the ballgame with two outs in the sixth, he was responsible for the two runs scored later in the inning.
The final two pitchers for Leesburg would be junior left-hander Brandon Haston and sophomore righty Layton Perry. Haston finished with three strikeouts, two hits, and no runs in his solo inning and a third while Perry threw the eighth inning and struck out one.
Tom Cavanaugh is the communications intern for the Leesburg Lightning.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: College baseball: Leesburg Lightning lose to Dawgs on the road
