Walk Off Leads Boom to Victory in the Futures League Season Opener

A late rally by the Boom led to a walk off in this high scoring game to start the season. The scoring in this shootout began in the 2nd when Leesburg plated two after a bases loaded walk and an RBI groundout by Kobie Leonard (Lake Sumter). Both teams were neck and neck until the top of the 5th where the Thunder appeared to break it open on a homerun by George Duran (Shawnee) to make the score 6-2. The Boom rallied back to tie the game in the bottom of the 6th on a homerun by Dylon Romano. The Thunder hit two more homeruns in the 7th and 8th off the bats of Nick Grice (Lake Sumter) and Alexis Quevedo (Talladega)1 to put the score at 11-6, but again this was not enough to hold off the Boom. They came storming back with five runs combined in the bottom of 8th and 9th innings led by a big double by Jake Allen helping to send this game into extra innings. Clayton Powell was able to keep the Thunder’s bats quiet in the top of the 10th, allowing the Boom to have the opportunity to win the game in the bottom half of the inning. Preston Toothman bunted a runner over to third base. On the play, the first baseman made a throwing error to allow the winning run to score and give the Boom a 12-11 victory to start the season. Powell’s strong inning gave him the win, while Dylan Adams (Florida Southern) received the loss after the walk off.

Lake Mary Walks Off for Second Time in Two Games

Solid pitching by both teams led to this low scoring affair and Lake Mary’s second straight victory. The Boom’s Connor Frank was virtually untouchable, ending his day with six innings pitched and five strikeouts. His lone hit given up in this start was a solo homerun off the bat of Scott Reeves in the 3rd. After tying the game in the bottom half, the Boom were finally able to get to Jackson Eberly in the 4th to take a 3-1 lead. Reid Lisle came into pitch for the Monarchs in the 5th and was able to slow down the Boom’s offense to keep the game close. Sanford tied the game up with a clutch home run by Drake Rodriguez in the 8th. This game remained tied until the bottom of the ninth, where Justice Candelario led the inning off with a pinch hit double. Then, Charlie Vari was able to battle in his at bat and single in the game winning run to send the Boom home again with a walk off victory. Lisle, though pitching well for four solid innings, was tagged with the loss while Corey Strange received his first win of the short season after pitching the final three innings in this thriller.