Dawgs struggle to shake off their losing ways

The Winter Park Diamond Dawgs’ descent into the bottom of the Florida Collegiate Summer League continued this week, but they’re still not out of the chase for the postseason.

Making the turn into the second half of the season over the 4th of July weekend, the Dawgs (9-14) spanked the Leesburg Lightning (11-14) and DeLand Suns (14-10) for a first-for-the-season three-game winning streak.

That ended Monday when they were manhandled by the Lightning in Leesburg, after a scoreless game was blown open in the fifth inning by a runaway margin. Dawgs’ designated hitter Tyler Homer lived up to his name again, blasting a solo shot in the loss. Playing only from the mound for the night in relief, Winter Park clutch hitter Josh DeBacker threw two innings of scoreless ball.

In a back-and-forth season with the Lightning, the Dawgs were poised for their customary home game revenge before the Lightning lit them up for seven runs in just the first two innings. It would rapidly explode into a slugfest as both teams used a combined 12 pitchers, only four of whom wouldn’t give up a run in the game.

The best shot the Dawgs had for a comeback Tuesday night was the bottom of the fifth inning, when they were already down 10-1. That’s when the Dawgs, who only had a handful of hits so far in the game, went nuts. A walk, a single, an error and another single and the Dawgs had a run and bases loaded with two outs. That’s when Homer came to the plate, dug in, and sent the first pitch over the wall, the grand slam emptying the bases.

But after that big bang the inning would end with a whimper after Chad Wagner blasted a single, Jack Gonzalez walked, and a pair of passed balls turned into a wild scramble for home, where Wagner was thrown out trying to score.

The Dawgs would light up another rally two innings later, but it wouldn’t be enough. The Lightning would pile on six more runs in the final two innings of the game, which ended 16-9.

That wild swing over five games sent the Dawgs from a three-game winning streak into a two-game losing streak as they were trying to climb out of the FCSL basement.

Thankfully for the Dawgs, the Altamonte Springs Boom (9-12) have been racing to the bottom to cushion their fall. The Boom have lost six straight games over the course of the last week, and eight of their last 10 as part of a catastrophic collapse that in one week saw them go from nearly tied for the league lead to only a game ahead of last place.

That league lead still belongs to the Sanford River Rats (16-8), who despite losing two in a row themselves are still two games ahead of the DeLand Suns.

During that wild shift in the league the Suns’ Jay Hayes took over the league batting lead, at .443, helped out by teammate Matthew Gulik who picked up his fifth win from the mound. Meanwhile Homer leads the league with his four home runs. The Dawgs’ Trevor Tinder leads the league with 35 strikeouts in 31 innings.

All the teams were scheduled to play Wednesday night at press time. With so many rainy days in the past few weeks, it’s makeup game time and that means double headers. Tonight, Thursday, the Dawgs will only have to play one, on the road at the Winter Garden Squeeze (11-12). After a few more away games they’ll return home at 7 p.m. Wednesday to face the Rats in the first of a back-to-back home-and-away series.