Dawgs finally lose two straight

The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs are once again knotted at the top of the FCSL with the Leesburg Lightning, and they’re leaving open the chance of a third contender for the lead after losing two straight games to enter the week.

The Dawgs (13-5-1) had been flying high, leading the league standings for the first month and a half of the season, but back-to-back losses against surging DeLand Suns have put a championship in doubt.

Meanwhile the Sanford River Rats’ rapid descent to the bottom of the league has stabilized, and they may be slowly gaining ground.

Saturday the Dawgs lost a heartbreaker in DeLand, 5-4. They’d already built a 4-0 lead heading into the bottom of the fourth inning, when they let the Suns in the door with a two-run rally.

Then as the Dawgs’ bats cooled, they watched the Suns mount a comeback that added another three runs, including the winning run, in the bottom of the sixth.

An unlucky Case Nixon took the loss for the Dawgs, after only retiring two batters in the sixth inning before giving up two runs on three hits, including the eventual game winner.

Reed Reznicek and Kevin Gude closed out the game for the Dawgs, giving up a combined one hit and striking out three in two and a third of an inning. But by then, the damage was already done.

In a rematch Sunday, the Dawgs fared far worse. Again they led the game for half an inning, taking a narrow 1-0 into the bottom of the third, before giving up the lead on two runs.

A massive amount of errors plagued the Dawgs, as pitcher Ben Brown watched as his four strikeout, four hit effort turned into five runs allowed, only one of which was earned.

Again the bats stayed cold for the Dawgs, nearly all of whom picked up a hit, but none of whom had a second.

The Dawgs faced Leesburg to break up the league lead tie at press time Tuesday, and they’ll be at home at Rollins College’s Alfond Stadium at 7 p.m. Thursday to host the Orlando Freedom.