7th Inning Slugfest Ends Mainers' June on a High Note
June 30, 2018 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford - The Sanford Mainers finished off the month of June with a big win over the Vermont Mountaineers on Saturday night at Goodall Park as they used two big home runs to power their way to a 5-3 victory. The win capped off the first month of the season that has seen the Mainers pick up an 11-8 record and take control of second place in the Northern Division.
R.J. Hall (Marietta, Ga./Tufts) turned in his best start of the season, his second straight lights out appearance against the Mountaineers, as he threw five innings of scoreless baseball surrendering just two hits and striking out a season-high seven batters. In his last two starts, hall has surrendered just four hits total and has not given up a run in nine consecutive innings on the hill.
His offense helped him out in the bottom half of the 5th inning as they jumped on top 1-0, following a Randy Bednar (Bethesda, Md./Maryland) RBI double, his first hit of the 2018 campaign, that brought around Austin Biggar (Lilburn, Ga./Georgia).
After Connor Yoder (Enola, Penn./Virginia Tech) threw a scoreless inning of relief in the top half of the 6th, the Mountaineers were able to jump out in front in the top of the 7th following a hit by pitch, a walk, a passed ball and a single that put them on top 3-1 going into the bottom half of the inning.
Sanford, however, was not going to drop a third straight game at home as in the bottom of the 7th, following the third walk drawn by Brandon Lankford (Mocksville, N.C./UNC-Asheville), Austin Biggar stepped up and hit a deep fly ball into the Sanford night over the right field fence to tie the game at 3 apiece, his second big time home run of the week for the Mainers as he hit the game winner against Mystic on Wednesday night. Two batters later, after a walk and a beautiful sacrifice bunt by Carmine Pagano (McLeansville, N.C./UNC-Asheville) moved the go-ahead run into the scoring position, Nick Howie (Oakville, Ontario, Canada/Eastern Kentucky) smashed a no-doubter deep over the left field wall, his first home run on the season, to give the Mainers the 5-3 lead with only six outs needed to get a win.
The Mainers have now smashed seven home runs in just their last five games after going deep just eight times in their first 15 contests of the 2018 NECBL season.Sean Fisher (Parsonsburg, Md./Maryland) came in for the top half of the 8th and got the Mountaineers to go down without a fight throwing just six pitches to get the three outs he needed. Following suit, his college teammate John Murphy (Merchantville, N.J./Maryland) came in for the 9th and slammed the door shut with a pair of strikeouts as he picked up his team-leading 4th save on the year and gave the Mainers a much-needed win to end the month.
The Mainers have a much-deserved day off on Sunday before heading on the road for four games to start the month of July with the first coming on Monday at Winnipesaukee at 6:05 which will be broadcast live on the NECBL Broadcast Network and 102.3 FM "The Legends" in Sanford. You can keep up with all things Mainers at www.sanfordmainers.com and make sure to follow us across social media as well as on YouTube as we will have interviews and highlights being put up over the next couple of days.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 30, 2018
- 7th Inning Slugfest Ends Mainers' June on a High Note - Sanford Mainers
- Mainers Use the Long Ball to Top Vermont, 5-3 - Vermont Mountaineers
- Nighthawks Suffer Loss to Blue Sox - Upper Valley Nighthawks
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