Winter Garden Squeeze struggling after opening win

A loss to the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs on June 9 made it eight consecutive losses for the Winter Garden Squeeze, dropping the team to 1-8 on the season after it hard started the season with a victory.

The defeat dropped the Squeeze to five games behind the league-leading Altamonte Springs Boom and Sanford River Rats, both of whom are currently 6-3. 

When looking at the struggles for Winter Garden, one almost has to start by examining the Squeeze’s lack of offensive production. Through nine games, Winter Garden is averaging just 2.33 runs per game.

Yahir Gurrola (Midland) has 5 RBI to lead the team, with Chaz Boyer (New Orleans) leading the club in hits (10).

The pitching for the Squeeze has been bright in spots, with a couple of strong performances from Caleb Maggio (Samford), who has allowed just four hits and no earned runs in his 10 innings of work this season.

Among the challenges facing first-year manager Ed Taubensee is that the roster was assembled by former head coach Ruben Felix, who had to step down just days before the season began. Accordingly, Taubensee is still likely to tinker with the lineup and deciding who plays where to give the ballclub its best chance at winning.

Winter Garden will travel to play at Historic Sanford Memorial Stadium on Thursday and Saturday then host the River Rats on Friday.

Sanford outfielder Reese Cooley (Chipola) was the Week Two Player of the Week in the Florida League. The league-leader in stolen bases (13), Cooley had eight hits over the course of the week — including a home run — and even stole home against the Boom on June 11.