Winter Park Diamond Dawgs' season comes to an end

They were so close, yet seemingly so far away.

After a long season, the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs found themselves in the Florida Collegiate Summer League title game against the Sanford River Rats.

Held at Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, this was the culmination of all of the hard work the Dawgs (20-18-1) had fought for.

Unfortunately for the hometown Dawgs, their luck ran out in the 10th inning of an exciting title game, as they fell 6-5 to the Rats.

“It was a good ballgame,” said Dawgs head coach Chuck Schall. “We knew that we needed to jump out early, because Sanford has a very good bullpen, and that’s exactly what we did. But we had to take our starter out, and they just got to our relief guys. … We tried to hold on there as much as we could.” 

By the time the second inning had ended, the Dawgs had the 4-0 lead over the Rats after a two-RBI shot off the wall by Matt Mackey and a two-run dinger by Jordan Bowersox.

Starting pitcher Riley Troutt was wheeling and dealing through five solid innings, before things started getting iffy in the sixth, when the Rats made it 4-1 off of an RBI-single.

After walking a couple of runners on base, Troutt came out during the seventh, replaced by Grant Baker.

A couple of big singles later swung the momentum around, leading to a four-run inning for the Rats and 5-4 lead late into the game. 

The Rats’ lead wouldn’t last much longer as Christian Rivera led off the top of the eighth with a double, before finding himself on third after a wild pitch. Christian Maglich would bring Rivera on home after a single to tie the game up at 5-5.

The Dawgs managed to hold off the Rats and force extras.

In the 10th inning, the call was made to intentionally walk Omar Villaman to load the bases as a means of creating a force out position at any base — it didn’t work.

Dathan Prewett was hit by a 1-2 fastball, walking in Rodney Tennie for the game-winning run to end the Dawg’s season in difficult fashion.

The trip to Tampa wasn’t a total loss, though. Schall sees it as a learning experience for his players.

“It’s summer baseball, so these kids are there to get better in competitive situations,” Schall said. “We tell them from day one that our goal is for them to develop under competitive situations and to try and get to the Trop to play in that championship game.”

The Dawgs started off the season a bit slow, going 3-6 in the first nine games behind an offense that really didn’t start clicking until a game against the Rats — though they lost in a 14-10 shootout.

From there, the Dawgs hit their stride and exploded for 14 wins in 16 games between June 21 and July 10.

“Through the first part of the season, our starting pitching was strong — we had a good staff,” Schall said. “We had very good defense, especially when all of our guys were healthy, so we were in every game. And then when we came around and started swinging the bat we went on a good run.”

The offense was led by first baseman Jacob Katzfey, of Wichita State University, whose seven homers and 30-RBI were a team best. His .316 batting average was second to that of Kyle Guttveg’s .331 average.

Guttveg also was second in dingers with four of his own, while shortstop Christian Rivera and outfielder Zach Howard racked up three apiece. Guttveg was second in the team in RBI with 21, while Rivera had 19.

On the mound, the Dawgs relied on the arms of a slew of players to help sit opposing batters down.

In seven games, Conner Andrews went a team best 4-1 with a solid 2.88 ERA — striking out 27 batters and walking 14. Behind Andrews, six other Dawgs won at least two games.

Pitcher Eric Goldstein managed an impressive ERA of 1.03, the best on the team, while attaining a 1-0 record in 12 appearances. Zachary Drury would finish with a second best ERA of 1.54, while Tyler Keysor capped off his season with a 2.02 ERA.

As the season pressed, the Dawgs began experiencing a string of injuries, which led to a third place finish in the league. After three straight losses to end the season, the Dawgs limped into the FCSL playoffs, but that didn’t stop them from making their run to the championship game. 

“It was a successful season, (and) our kids had a good time,” Schall said. “We had the opportunity to go to the Trop and win that championship game. I think a lot of our kids benefited from the summer, and that’s what it’s all about — what those kids are going to take back to school next year.”