Ball Dulls Gulls, Mainers Take First Game of NECBL Championship
August 7, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Connor Ball on the mound
(, Credit: Bijan Anvar)
NEWPORT, R.I. - In an NECBL postseason that has seen every series end in a sweep, the Sanford Mainers got the all-important victory over the Newport Gulls 7-1 at Cardines Field in the first game of the NECBL Championship Series.
Aidan Coleman (Pittsburgh) retired the Mainers in 1-2-3 fashion in the top of the first inning before the Gulls offense threatened to put him in the lead. Nike Brini (Wofford) led off the bottom of the frame with a single before Connor Ball (Alabama) hit Dixon Williams (East Carolina) with a pitch with one out in the inning.
With two on base and the heart of the order due up, Ball got Nolan Stevens (Mississippi State) to ground a ball to Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) at first base. Velazquez took the ball to first himself putting two runners in scoring position with two outs.
"Same story, different day," manager Nic Lops said of the Alabama native on the mound. "He just spewed tremendous amounts of confidence on that mound. The moment wasn't too big for him."
Ball stranded those two runners in scoring position as he forced Tyler Minnick (Middle Tennessee State) to fly out to center field. That flyout came on the 27th pitch of the inning as the first five Gulls hitters made Ball work.
Despite allowing another runner to reach in the second inning, Ball got through the second untouched with a pair of strikeouts and another flyout. After stranding the runner, Randy Seymour (Michigan State), at second base, Ball's offense backed him up in the next half-inning.
Jackson Tucker (St. John's) took the first pitch he saw during his at-bat into the outfield for a single.
"We've worked with him on a very minor swing adjustment," Lops said of Tucker, who has five hits over his last two games. "That was keeping a strong top hand throughout his swing, and that's paid off. That's all on him for accepting that adjustment and putting it into his game."
That single became the same as a triple quickly as Tucker stole second base and got to third on an overthrow by Minnick.
Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt) came to the plate with Tucker 90 feet away at third base. Barczi, who led the NECBL Postseason in RBI coming into the day, blooped a ball into right field, which scored Tucker as the first run of the ballgame.
In the fifth, that portion of the lineup doubled Sanford's lead as Tucker reached on a one-out single, which was followed by Barczi's second hit of the day. Those two each advanced 90 feet as they pulled off a successful double steal with Evin Sullivan (Binghamton) at the plate.
Sullivan, who moved up two spots in Sanford's lineup on Wednesday night, lined a ball into left field that was deep enough to score Tucker. When Tucker touched home plate for the second time in the contest, the Mainers moved ahead 2-0.
Two innings later, Sanford continued their odd-inning success when Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) hit a 100-mile-per-hour single to start the seventh. Davis advanced to third base when Caleb Shpur (UConn) singled in the next at-bat.
With Davis on third and Shpur on second after a stolen base, Tucker worked a walk to load the bases. In a similar fashion to his first RBI single of the night, Barczi blooped a ball into right field in front of Brini.
Barczi's single scored Davis and kept the bases loaded. Two batters later, Devan Bade (Binghamton) singled to bring around Shpur and advance Sanford's advantage to four runs.
"Play our game," Lops said of his team's approach tonight. "There wasn't any secret recipe. I think sometimes you can go a little bit crazy in this game, certainly scouting reports are big, and Coach [Tim] Moreau provides great ones, but just sticking to our plan, our recipe."
The next batter, Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) went to the opposite field on a single that scored Tucker and Barczi as the Mainers went ahead 6-0.
Ball finished his night, and his summer, in the seventh inning as he shut down the bottom third of the Gulls' order in three up, three down fashion.
"All summer long he has really worked up his pitch count," Lops said of Ball. "We know he's got it in him and that he can be effective past 100 pitches. The choice to come out was all his. For him to not try to play superhero, just speaks to his maturity."
Following Ball's final inning of work, the Mainers added a run to their lead as Tucker recorded his third hit of the ballgame. That single, which was also the fourth time Tucker reached base in the game, brought home Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville), who reached on a single to start the inning.
Ryan Douglas (Stonehill) pitched the final two innings for Sanford. Douglas allowed one run in the bottom of the ninth on a Jack Doyle (Northeastern) RBI single.
"I saw something special out of him the other night in Vermont," Lops said of the decision to bring in Douglas, who was making his second appearance of the postseason. "He just looked like a warrior out there. Complete focus and determination are what I saw from Ryan Douglas the other night."
Sanford and Newport play game two on Thursday night at Goodall Park. The Mainers look to take home the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup for the third time in the organization's history and for the first time in front of their home fans.
"We're going to go into that game with the recipe we've been preaching all summer," Lops said of Thursday's game. "One game at a time. One inning at a time. One batter at a time. One pitch at a time."
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Connor Ball on the mound (Bijan Anvar) |
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- Ball Dulls Gulls, Mainers Take First Game of NECBL Championship - Sanford Mainers
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