Two teams are leaving the Florida Collegiate Summer League pack behind with less than a month left to be played. The Sanford River Rats (21-8) hold a half-game lead on the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs (20-8) while the Leesburg Lightning (13-17), DeLand Suns (10-18) and Orlando Mavericks (8-21) fight to stay out of the basement following Wednesday’s all-star game at Sanford Memorial Stadium at 7 p.m.

The all-star game will be broadcasted on Bright House Sports Network. The five-team league runs through Aug. 5 when the championship game is played at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

– League Leader: Batting Average

SS Samuel Kimmel – Winter Park – The Jupiter native and last season’s most valuable player at Indian River State College leads the FCSL with a .374 batting average. In 99 appearances at the plate (through 23 games), Kimmel has accounted for 37 hits, 15 RBI, 13 runs, 7 walks and 4 doubles while striking out just 12 times for the Diamond Dawgs. On July 2 against DeLand he went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a stolen base in a 6-5 win and on July 9 he finished 4-for-6 with two RBI in an 11-10 win at Leesburg.

Next in Line: Sanford has three players atop the standings at the all-star break, including Jabari Blash at .353, Tyler Benzel at .350, and Kelvin Clark at .343 for the River Rats. Winter Park’s Brad Dantzler is batting .339 to round out the Top-5.

– League Leader: Runs Batted In

IF Tyler Benzel – Sanford – The Florida Southern transfer not only carries a .350 batting average but has drove in a league-high 21 runs thus far on the season. In 117 plate appearances (through 29 games), Benzel has 41 hits, 25 runs, 11 walks, 6 doubles and 2 home runs against 17 strikeouts this summer. On June 28 he went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases in a 17-5 win at Winter Park then on July 8 against Orlando he went 2-for-4 with two RBI in a 3-1 win.

Next in Line: Winter Park’s Alex Friedrich (20), Sanford’s Kelvin Clark (18), Leesburg’s Mark Darlington (17) and Winter Park’s Mitchel Brennan (17) lead the league in runs driven in.

– League Leader: Earned Run Average

RHP Zachary Haile – Sanford – The Lake Mary alum carries a 1.57 ERA into the all-star break after making five starts and appearing in six games in all. In 34.1 innings of work he’s allowed 28 hits, struck out 18, walked just 2 batters and stands at 4-0 on the summer. The best outing for Haile this season came on June 25 against DeLand when he pitched eight scoreless innings, giving up five hits and striking out four in an 8-0 win.

Next in Line: Leesburg’s Nic Kovacs (1.59), Sanford’s Josh Strawn (1.64), Winter Park’s Bobby Bolling (1.73) and Leesburg’s Kyle Wahl (1.93) are the only pitchers in the league with a sub-2.00 ERA.

– League Leader: Strikeouts

LHP Steven Starbird – Orlando – The Tennessee native out of Lincoln Memorial has struck out 39 batters over 42 innings this summer while making seven appearances for the Mavericks. Starbird has given up 37 hits, walked 10 and owns a 3-1 record with a 2.57 ERA. On June 8 he struck out seven in five innings and allowed just two hits at Winter Park then struck out eight more Diamond Dawgs on July 10 while giving up three hits and an earned run over 8.1 innings in a 6-1 win.

Next in Line: Leesburg’s Kyle Wahl (34), DeLand’s Joseph Munoz (27), Winter Park’s Trey Dahl (26) and Jake Boyd (26) are among the top strikeout pitchers this summer.

– More League Leaders:

Infielder Drew Morgan (Sanford) leads the league in runs scored with 26 and walks with 24… Infielder Tyler Benzel (Sanford) leads the league in hits with 41… Outfielder Mark Nelson (Orlando) leads the league in doubles with 10… Outfielder Alex Friedrich (Winter Park) leads the league in triples with 4… Outfielder Stephen Bellantoni (DeLand) leads the league in stolen bases with 19… Catcher Brad Hutton (Winter Park) leads the league in home runs with 3… Right-hander Zachary Haile (Sanford) leads the league in wins with 4… Winter Park’s Chandler Jagodzinski leads the league in saves with 8… Leesburg’s Nic Kovacs is the only pitcher this summer to record a complete game as he shut out DeLand 2-0 on June 16 by striking out four and allowing five on base.

– (Contact Orlando Sports Central at JC@OrlandoSportsCentral.com) –