Florida Collegiate Summer League baseball: Leesburg rallies for 11-7 win against DeLand
LEESBURG — The Leesburg Lightning took down the DeLand Suns 11-7 Wednesday, with a fierce comeback at Pat Thomas Stadium-Buddy Lowe Field.
Leesburg improved to 14-6 on the season with its sixth in a row — the team’s longest winning streak of the season — while DeLand fell to 3-15.
The Lightning broke a 5-5 tie in the sixth inning on back-to-back wild pitches that scored Marco Dinges and Ramses Cordova. Gabriel Santiago, who was at the plate when the wild pitches were thrown, then drove in a run on a groundout.
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Catcher Jakob Runnels added to the sixth inning rally with his second RBI of the game on a base hit to left field that would give the Lightning a four-run advantage heading to the seventh.
Starting pitcher Cody Bruns was knocked around in the first inning with four runs on five hits and DeLand had the early lead. Bruns quickly responded with four solid innings, allowing just one more run in the third and striking out three of the final six batters he faced.
The Lightning began their comeback in the bottom of the first with a fielder’s choice from Runnels to plate the first Lightning run. Leesburg scored in six of the eight innings they had at the plate.
Trailing 5-1 in the second inning, center fielder Michael Furry scored on a throwing error from the DeLand catcher. Sophomore Quinn Petty followed that with a sacrifice fly to pull within two of the lead.
Leesburg continued to manufacture runs, chipping away with solo runs in the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game at five. Left fielder Brandon Triplett had the fourth inning RBI groundout and third baseman Devon Nowells drove in a run on a fielder’s choice in the fifth.
The win went to right-hander Tanner Walker, the Lightning's first pitcher out of the bullpen. Walker went 1 1/3 innings and struck out the wide in the sixth. It was his first win of the season.
The final reliever for the Bolts was right-hander Layton Perry, who tossed the final two innings. Perry allowed a pair of runs in the ninth, but struck out four DeLand hitters to seal the victory.
Leesburg added two insurance runs in the eighth when Noah Best roped a single to left field. Best has been unconscious at the plate, tying the lead league for RBIs at 18.
Tom Cavanaugh is a communications intern for the Leesburg Lightning.
This article originally appeared on Daily Commercial: College baseball: Lightning rally late for 11-7 victory against DeLand
