Barrett's Gem Aided by Late Rally as Sanford Sweeps Mystic
August 1, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett congratulates Devan Bade
(Sanford Mainers, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
SANFORD, Maine - It did not come as early or as easy as the night before, but the Sanford Mainers came alive late to defeat the Mystic Schooners 2-1 to advance to the semifinals of the 2023 New England League Playoffs.
Seamus Barrett (Loyola Marymount) set down the first 10 batters he faced in order for Sanford, yet it was the visitors who put the first tally on the scoreboard.
Caleb Shpur (Endicott College), the 11th batter to come to the plate against Barrett, was the first to crack the 6-foot-7 right-handed pitcher as he singled with one out in the top of the fourth inning. Shpur advanced to second base on a stolen base in the next at-bat, which resulted in Jack Goodman (Pepperdine) becoming the fifth strikeout victim.
With two away in the inning, Danny Melnick (Rutgers), who was slotted as the clean-up hitter and designated hitter for Mystic, came through with a single of his own to center field. Melnick's single proved to be enough to bring Shpur home to give the Schooners a 1-0 lead.
Barrett settled down after the fourth to get through seven innings of one-run, four-hit baseball in which he registered eight strikeouts and just one walk. The third-year member of the NECBL left the mound after his seventh inning of work in line to get the loss, but his batterymate helped change that in the next half-inning.
Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt), who was back in the lineup and catching for the first time since a minor injury that he suffered back on July 26, registered the green and yellow's first hit since the second inning and became the first Mainer to reach second base in the contest.
Poteet drilled a double to left-center field that chased Anthony DeFabbia (Stetson) from the game. DeFabbia, who went six-shutout innings against Sanford eight days prior, left with his responsibility in Poteet on first base after another six-shutout innings allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out two.
Colton Shaw (Yale) came into the game in relief of DeFabbia and recorded groundouts of the first two hitters he faced in Jeremiah Jenkins (Maine) and Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech). Shaw forced a foul tip by Devan Bade (Binghamton) on a 1-2 count that tipped off Matthew Brinker's (Northeastern) glove.
After the foul tip that could have ended the inning, Shaw appeared to have the final out as Bade grounded a ball to Maddix Dalena (UConn). Dalena, however, did not field the ball cleanly and Poteet, who advanced to third on Jenkin's groundout, came home to knot the game at one apiece and break DeFabbia's shutout.
Following Chris Gallagher's (Wright State) 1-2-3 inning in the top of the eighth, Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) worked a leadoff walk against Shaw. Miceli watched from first base as Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) went down on strikes swinging before Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt) came to the plate.
Hewett swung at a ball in the dirt for strike three, but the pitch got to the backstop allowing Miceli to advance to second.
That brought up Poteet with two outs in the bottom of the eighth, one inning after he got the Moose off the schneid in the hit column. Poteet battled himself into a 2-2 count and on the fifth offering he blooped a ball into right field.
The ball fell to the green grass in front of Landon Moran (Stetson) and despite a strong throw, Miceli slid in safely as the go-ahead run.
In the ninth, Sanford turned to Cody Bowker (Georgetown) for his second relief appearance of the season. Bowker, who appeared in six straight games as a starter following his opening day win in relief, struggled after recording the first out via a groundout.
Melnick got his second knock of the game before Dalena worked a five-pitch walk to put two runners on with one out. The next batter, Anthony DePino (Rhode Island), hit a ball to shortstop that looked destined to be a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.
DePino beat the throw to first base to keep the game alive on a fielder's choice and passed the torch to Drew Kron (UConn) in the process.
Kron fell behind with two strikes before battling the count even at two apiece. He then lifted a ball to second base that was caught by Nick Roselli (Binghamton) to end the game.
The Mainers have the day off tomorrow as they await their fate for their second-round matchup in the 2023 New England League Postseason.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett congratulates Devan Bade (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 1, 2023
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