Winter Park Diamond Dawgs near league lead

The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs are just a pair of wins out of first place in the Florida Collegiate Summer League standings, despite a middling week of games that’s left them in a bit of a limbo.

After a disastrous week left them teetering just above the Orlando Monarchs (14-16) in the FCSL standings, the Dawgs (19-13) powered ahead with three wins in five games to put three games’ distance between the two.

In a solid third place to start the week, the Dawgs were just a game back of the DeLand Suns (20-12) and 1.5 games back from the Leesburg Lightning (21-12).

But that solid showing so far hasn’t prevented some slip ups along the way. They fell to league straggler Orlando Freedom (6-24) on July 20, making that only the second time they’ve lost to the Freedom this season. That game was seemingly in the bag for the Dawgs, who led by 4-0 heading into the fifth inning. Within two frames that turned into a 6-5 deficit to the Freedom, and one that the Dawgs would never make up as they lost 8-5.

It was déjà vu on July 21. The Dawgs were solidly ahead of the struggling Sanford River Rats (15-18) with a 6-0 lead heading into the fourth inning. But over the next four innings, they watched the Rats claw their way back with a wild string of rallies that flipped the score to 12-6. The Dawgs picked up a run in the eighth, but that was all they could find, as Sanford became the last team in the league to finally defeat the Dawgs this season.

Despite those dark spots, the Dawgs have some stars in their midst. Winter Park High School grad Evan Incinelli leads the league with a 1.50 ERA after eight appearances on the mound. He’s struck out 25 batters in 30 innings, allowing just five earned runs.

His teammate Cary Baxter has struck out 45 batters, leading the league, in just 38.2 innings of work. He holds an ERA of 3.26 in his seven starts.

Near the top of the league in strikeouts per inning, Michael Sylvestri has fanned 32 batters in just 25.1 innings of work.

For the first time this season the Dawgs’ big hitter, Michael Danner, has been overtaken for the lead in the chase for the batting crown. After a season-opening tear where he neared a .600 batting average, Danner has settled down to .365 to start the week, behind leader Anthony Stewart-Pagani from the Orlando Monarchs, who’s hitting .371.

But Danner has emerged as one of the league’s best power hitters, with six homeruns making him second in the league, and 23 RBI putting him in the top five. Teammate Tyler Rocklein is right up there with him, hammering 31 RBI with eight doubles.

The Dawgs played the Rats on Wednesday at press time, and will hit the road for a seven-game road trip to close out the regular season. They travel to face the Monarchs at 7 p.m. Thursday, then to Leesburg at 7 p.m. Friday, then DeLand at 7 p.m. Saturday before making their way to Sanford at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

After that, it’s playoff time for the FCSL, with the Dawgs hoping for a repeat appearance in the championship game. Last season they lost 7-5 to Sanford.