Swamp Bats Win Third Straight, Defeat Holyoke 9-5
Published on July 27, 2012 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Keene Swamp Bats News Release
Keene, NH - The Swamp Bats won its third straight game Friday night, defeating the Holyoke Blue Sox 9-5. Three home runs provided most of the offense for Keene along with a strong starting pitching performance.
With the win (as well as Danbury winning), the magic number for Keene to clinch the Western Division title is now at just two games. Any combination of Swamp Bats victories with Westerners defeats totaling two clinches the division for Keene.
Scott Simon (Washington St.) toed the rubber for his sixth start of the season for Keene, matching up with David Speer (Columbia) for Holyoke.
Holyoke got the scoring started off of Simon in the second inning with a long two-run home run to Phil Mosey (Notre Dame). The ball cleared the centerfield fence by roughly 50 feet, and gave the Blue Sox a 2-0 lead. For Mosey, it is his fifth home run of the season.
The Swamp Bats responded immediately with a run in the bottom of the second. Jared Walsh (Georgia) led the inning off with a base hit, improving his on-base streak to 26 consecutive games. The hit also improved his hitting streak 12 games. Frankie Schwindel (St. John's), entering the game with in a 1-15 slump, drove Walsh in with a double to deep left-center field. It was Schwindel's 26th run batted in this season, tying him for second on the team and making the score 2-1.
The 2-1 deficit for Keene did not last long, as the Swamp Bats took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning. After Dylan Delacruz (Central Connecticut St.) led of the inning with a bunt single, he advanced to second on groundout with two outs. Fran Whitten (Maine) then knocked an opposite-field two-run run shot to give Keene the 3-2 lead. It is Whitten's eighth homer of the year, tying him with Grant Kay (Iowa Western CC) and Schwindel for the team lead.
Simon ran into some trouble in the top of the sixth inning against Holyoke. Jorden Keur (Michigan St.) led off with a double down the left field line. He then struck out the next two batters, but a wild pitch and a walk put runners on the corners for the Blue Sox. Mosey followed up by doubling down the left field line to tie the game up at 3-3. Simon got the next batter to ground out to end the inning, but the damage was already done.
Just like he did in second inning, Schwindel put the Swamp Bats back on the scoreboard after Holyoke put up a run. Only this time, he was not alone in the run production. Schwindel went back-to-back with Brett Barrett (Southern Maine) solo home runs to lead off the inning. After Whitten reached on an error on the next pitch, Evan Campbell (Kent State) laced a double down the right field line, scoring Whitten from first to increase the Keene lead to 6-3.
Speer was officially chased from the game with two down in the sixth inning after Kay lifted a single to shallow center field. That extended Kay's hitting streak to a season-high 19 games. Speer finished after 5.2 innings of work, allowing six runs (five earned) on ten hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
Holyoke did not go down quietly however, as Danny Diekroeger (Stanford) launched a solo home run, his first of the season, off the scoreboard in right-center field to bring the Blue Sox within two runs.
Keene attempted to put a stop to the comeback effort with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning. A sacrifice fly from Schwindel along with an RBI single for Barrett gave the Swamp Bats an 8-4 lead. Schwindel finished the day 2-4 with a home run and three RBI.
But Holyoke was not quite done yet. Paul McConkey (Kentucky) drilled a solo home run to right field to start the eighth inning. The next two batters reached base against Simon to officially chase him from the game. Simon finished the game with 7+ innings pitched, five runs (all earned) on 12 hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
Tyler Gauthier (Southern New Hampshire) entered in relief with runners on the corners and nobody out. He retired the next three batters on two strikeouts and a shallow fly out to centerfield. He then worked an easy top of the ninth to finish the game for Keene.
Simon improves to 4-0 on the year with the win. The Swamp Bats improve to 26-11 while Holyoke falls to 14-23.
The Swamp Bats are back in action Saturday night against North Adams. First pitch against the Steeplecats at Joe Wolfe Field is scheduled for 6:30 pm.
Note - Keene's postponed game against the Vermont Mountaineers Thursday night has been rescheduled for a double-header on Wednesday, August 1st starting at 4:00 pm. The Sanford Mainers game that was suspended a couple of weeks ago has been rescheduled for Tuesday, July 31st at 1:00 pm.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 27, 2012
- Mountaineers Drop Third Straight in 6-4 Loss - Vermont Mountaineers
- Swamp Bats Win Third Straight, Defeat Holyoke 9-5 - Keene Swamp Bats
- North Adams SteepleCats Announce Additional 2012 Spaghetti Dinner - North Adams SteepleCats
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