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Bay Sox Playoff Hopes Dwindling After Demoralizing loss

July 23, 2017 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
New Bedford Bay Sox News Release


A three-run homer in the eighth inning spoiled one of the New Bedford Bay Sox' finest pitching outings of the season, as the Winnipesaukee Muskrats defeated the Bay Sox 4-2 on Saturday night at Paul Walsh Field.

The Bay Sox tabbed reliever James Taubl (Sacred Heart) to start on Saturday evening, as they continue a brutal stretch of games to close out the season. Taubl was outstanding through the first seven innings, as he scattered just four hits before the disastrous eighth that may have extinguished any playoff hopes for New Bedford.

The blast to left field was from Winnipesaukee third baseman Mark Sluys, who is the starting catcher for the Northern Division in next week's NECBL All Star Game. Sluys launched a pitch from reliever Zack Reid (UMass Dartmouth) to deep left, which was a no-doubt bomb.

The Muskrats, who defeated the Newport Gulls 11-5 earlier on Saturday in a rare doubleheader that encompassed two different locations, knocked a leadoff double on the first pitch Taubl tossed, but the southpaw battled back to record two strikeouts, while Cody Doyle (Sacred Heart) cut down the Muskrat runner at third on a stolen base attempt.

Winnipesaukee put two runners on base in the second inning thanks to an error by Chandler Debrosse (Central Connecticut State) and a one-out single. But Taubl responded by not only retiring the final two batters of that frame, but started a streak of sitting down ten straight hitters until a two-out single from Michael DeMartino in the fifth inning.

As great as Taubl was on Saturday, Muskrat starter Garrett Hudson was even more impressive, as he did not allow a hit through the first six innings. The Bay Sox were able to capitalize on back-to-back errors from second baseman Angel Perez-Vargas to plate a run without the benefit of a hit.

Zachary Scott (St. Leo's) hit a grounder to Perez-Vargas' left, and the Muskrat infielder slipped when fielding the ball. His toss to first would have easily beat Scott, but the ball slipped out of his hand for the first error. Scott stole second on a ball in the dirt, and scored on another grounder that was booted at second base from the bat of Corey Joyce (North Carolina Central). Scott alertly came home on the miscue, but Joyce was thrown out at second base trying to become just the second Bay Sox runner to reach scoring position.

Hudson's no-hit bid ended in the top of the seventh inning, as NECBL All-Star Luke Bakula (Kansas) dumped a single over the head of Perez-Vargas in short right field. Hudson seemed to tire pretty quickly in that inning, as he had never pitched past the fifth inning in any of his six previous appearances for Winnipesaukee this season. After getting Nick Matera (Rutgers) to ground out on an outstanding defensive play by Sean Mazzio, Hudson allowed a walk to Dan Schock (Sacred Heart) and an RBI double that just kept carrying out to left field from Notre Dame's Nick Neville that gave New Bedford a 2-0 lead.

New Bedford stranded two runners in scoring position in the seventh, which loomed large as the visitors finally struck for a huge eighth inning. Taubl gave up two singles in the eighth inning before being replaced on the mound by Reid with one out. Reid allowed a double to right from Mazzio that scored the first Muskrats' run and placed runners at second and third. Reid struck out Koby Claborn for the second out, but gave up the rocket to deep left field from Sluys that seemed to take all the wind out of the Bay Sox' sails.

The frustration boiled over in the bottom of the eighth, as Joyce followed a strikeout with a dugout eruption. He was replaced at second by Scott as the ninth inning began, which saw Reid strike out two batters and the Sox strand a runner on base in the demoralizing loss.

The loss was New Bedford's sixth in their last eight games, and drops them to 15-21 on the season. They will try to bounce back against the best team in the NECBL, the Ocean State Waves, on Sunday night at Paul Walsh Field.

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