Leesburg Lightning

League

FCSL

Location

Leesburg, Florida

Ballpark

Pat Thomas Stadium

Year founded

2007

League championships

2007, 2009

Colors

Black, Gold

Mascot

Striker

Management

Bruce Ericson

Manager

Rich Billings

Uniforms

Home

Away

Home

Away

The Leesburg Lightning are a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league team located in Leesburg, Florida. The team is a member of the Florida Collegiate Summer League (FCSL) and plays its home games at Pat Thomas Stadium. The team joined the FCSL in the 2007 season.

The Lightning joined the FCSL in 2007 as an expansion team. According to league officials, Leesburg was a natural pick due to its rich baseball history. This gave the league five franchises. In their inaugural season, the Lightning reached the FCSL championship game at Tropicana Field where they defeated the Altamonte Springs Snappers 6-0 to win the FCSL championship. The team did not enjoy the same success in its second season however, finishing third in the regular season and losing in the semifinal playoff round to the eventual champions, the Clermont Mavericks.

2009 brought a new head coach to the Lightning, former Major League Baseball World Series MVP and Cy Young Award winner Frank Viola. Frank's knowledge of the game helped transform the group into a winner, as they finished with a 21-18 record. The Lightning led the league in batting average (.274) and home runs (19). After defeating the Belleview Bulldogs 2-0 in the semifinal, they went on to bring home the championship vs. the team that knocked them out the previous year, the Clermont Mavericks by a score of 5-1.

Viola returned in 2010 and helped the Lightning to their second straight 3rd place finish. They finished first in the league in hits with 361, and second in the league in doubles (73), home runs (12), and total bases (478). After disposing of the Sanford River Rats in the playoffs semifinals 2-0, the Lightning headed back to the championship game vs. the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs. In a hard fought game, the Diamond Dawgs were able to defeat the Lightning by a score of 1-0.

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Wikipedia