Alex House pitches FCSL playoff masterpiece

Sanford River Rats starter Alex House torched the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs with a 2-hit shutout through seven innings in a 4-0 win to start the Florida Collegiate Summer League playoffs Wednesday. Then Winter Park came roaring back.

Wednesday House struck out four under the lights of Sanford Memorial Stadium, and allowed just four baserunners during his entire scoreless appearance, dropping his ERA for the season below 1.60.

Meanwhile the Rats' hitters piled on the runs in sporadic sprees. They got started early with a two-run first that didn't get started until two outs were on the board. Then Kevin Santa walked, Jacob Wright walked, and Christopher Bec blasted a single into left to score Santa. A bizarre Lazaro Rivera at bat featured a double steal that scored Wright.

After that the bats went quiet until the sixth when the Rats struck again. This time Santa took his walk with a shot to the body instead of four balls, stealing second almost immediately. That paid off right away when Bec took his first pitch and sent it into right field, scoring Santa again. Bec saw the throw heading home and stole second. Rivera lined one to second then half a dozen pitches later Reese Cooley blasted Bec home with a single to left. A deep fly by Derlin Martinez ended it, but by then the Rats had more runs than the Dawgs would have hits in the entire game.

Unstoppable Dawgs

The next came could hardly have been more different for the Dawgs, who unloaded on the Rats' pitching in a 9-5 slugfest win to keep their season alive. It was the first time the Dawgs had beaten the Rats all season on the road, playing at Lake Brantley High School for the night.

The Dawgs would score more runs in one inning than they did in the last two playoff games combined as they blasted Sanford starter Andy Ward for five runs in the third inning. In a wild chain of events Daniel Woodrow, who hadn't hit a home run all season, launched a solo shot, then three batters were walked in with the bases loaded by two different pitchers.

A second barrage of Dawg runs came when an error by the catcher opened things up followed by three run-scoring singles. Woodrow, batting .385 in the postseason, walked away with 2 RBI in the game.

The Dawgs and Rats switch back to Sanford for the finale of the three-game series tonight. Both teams will need a win to keep dreams of a Sunday in Tropicana Field dancing in their heads. Whoever wins tonight faces Leesburg, which completed an improbable sweep of the formerly dominant Altamonte Springs Boom.

Tonight's game starts at 7 p.m. at Sanford Memorial Stadium. Sunday at 6:30 p.m., the championship begins at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.