SANFORD, Fla. (June 2, 2011) - The Sanford River Rats opened the 2011 season with a 5-2 loss to the defending Florida Collegiate Summer League Champion Winter Park Diamond Dawgs Thursday night at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium.
Despite the loss, “There were a lot of positives tonight,” River Rats Head Coach Steve Piercefield said. “These guys played extremely hard tonight.”
River Rats (0-1) starting pitcher JR Edwards was charged with the loss giving up four earned runs on seven hits in four complete innings on the bump.
Jeremy Strawn started on the mound for Winter Park (1-0) and earned the win after he threw five shutout innings. He recorded eight strikeouts, including six consecutively, while allowing three hits.
“He did an excellent job,” Piercefield said of Strawn. “Guys like that are going give everybody trouble because he was able to throw all three pitches for strikes.”
Ryan Heinz and Adam Albers combined for five innings of relief work for Sanford and prevented the Diamond Dawgs from further scoring.
“The bullpen came in for five innings of shutout baseball against one of the better lineups we ar going to face,” said Piercefield.
“Defense kept doing what it was doing,” Piercefield said about fielding, including a 5-4-3 double play to end the sixth inning, and a hard throw from right fielder James Ramsay to catcher Andrew Valencia to tag Michael Danner six feet from the plate in the ninth.
“We threw up a zero in the error column. That’s always nice,” Piercefield said. “We also swung the bat well. As the game progressed, our at-bats got continually better.”
The River Rats had their best scoring opportunity in the sixth with bases loaded after Austin Liput reached by way of walk, followed by an Andrew Valencia one-out double and a Ramsay walk. Unfortunately for Sanford, Winter Park turned a double play of their own - a 4-6-3 that ended the inning.
Third baseman TJ Gavlick scored the first run for Sanford in the seventh. The second River Rats run came in the eighth as Liput crossed the plate on a Ramsay RBI double. Liput led off with a hit ground ball along the first base line that hit first base and bounced into the outfield allowing him to reach second. In the following at-bat, Ramsay tacked on another double for the Rats driving in Liput, 5-2.
“We’re gonna get after it on Saturday,” Piercefield said. “As the game went along, you saw everyone settle in. If we can maintain that, we’re going to be a powerhouse for the league.”
The River Rats will hit the road as they face the Winter Haven Loggerheads on Saturday, June 4 at Chain of Lakes Field. First pitch is slated for 7 p.m.
Read this article on the FCSL website here.
No comments:
Post a Comment