DeLand, Fla. – The Winter Garden Squeeze got back on the right track and improved to 2-5 following a 7-5 victory on the road against the DeLand Suns on Friday.
Pitching struggles from DeLand early in the matchup ended up costing them in the long run. Winter Garden put together its highest scoring inning of the summer thus far, with five runners rounding the bases in the top of the second. None of these were batted in due to several consecutive walks and fielding errors.
The Squeeze lead for all but the first frame, which was in large part because of their starter for the night. Liam Furey (West Florida (U of)) pitched five full innings while only allowing one run, one earned run, two hits, two walks and two strikeouts. It was a major improvement from his first start of the summer on May 31st vs. the Orlando Snappers.
“[I was] just getting ahead in the counts, locating the fastball and commanding the offspeeds,” said Furey after the win about his performance.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Cade Centracchio (Stetson) hit a sacrifice fly into right field that scored Eli Tidwell (2025 Northwest-Shoals CC), but the visitors wasted no time responding in the next inning. Zacharias Walker (Hillsborough CC) hit an RBI single to send Derek Lopez (Daytona State) across home plate to put the Squeeze up 6-1.
Walker was easily the best batter in the game for Winter Garden. He went 2-3 with one run, two hits, one RBI, and two walks, missing base only one time throughout the contest.
“I just thought I was seeing the ball, really just finding the fastball and trying my best to put a good swing on the ball,” Walker said about his success as a batter in the game.
It looked like the Suns were about to mount another late-game comeback. In the home half of the sixth inning, Gavin Thomas (Davidson) cut the lead to three runs when he blasted a three-run home run over the wall in left field, making it 7-4 in favor of the Squeeze up to this point.
A fielder’s choice in the top of the seventh made room for Michael Thomas (Edward Waters) to score a run and extend the lead to four.
DeLand would get an RBI in the bottom of the ninth inning and get a runner on base, but relief pitcher Carter Daniel (Union) forced a flyout to right center field to end the ballgame.
The Squeeze can take the rubber match and win the series against the DeLand Suns on the road on June 7 at 7 p.m.
Rickie Potts II (Syracuse University)
The article first appeared on the Florida Collegiate Summer League website.
WATCH: Dual interview with @furey_liam and @zachwalker4142 after a 7-5 win at DeLand. Furey threw five full innings with one run allowed and Walker was 2-3 and missed base once. The Squeeze are on the road against the Suns tomorrow at 7 p.m. #GoSqueeze #SqueezeEm #HorizonWest pic.twitter.com/JTeEPyqHLc
— Winter Garden Squeeze (@WGsqueeze) June 7, 2025
