Cody Lewis improved to 4-1 with a solid pitching effort, yielding 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 7 in 7 innings, and Kyle Leja offered strong support in collecting his fifth save. Josh Whitchurch went 3-for-5 with an RBI, Scott Schaub had a single and 3 RBI and Casey Smit added 2 hits and 3 runs scored to lead the Patriots at the plate.
The victory keeps the Patriots (11-23-1, 2-5 MFC) within striking distance of a playoff berth in a conference race that was starting to get away from them, though they'll still need to string together some wins to make up ground lost over their recent five-game losing streak. That effort begins Friday at 2:30 p.m. at Goodlett Field as the Patriots complete their home-and-home with Lake-Sumter, and Saturday at 1 p.m. as St. Johns River visits Ocala.
