Bats Win 8-7
July 19, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Keene Swamp Bats News Release
KEENE - Dom Iero (Kent St.) knocked a single through the left side of the infield to bring home Garrett Christman (Butler) for the game winning run as the SwampBats (15-16) defeated the Upper Valley Nighthawks (11-20) 8-7 in 8 innings.
Riding a 5-game losing streak and falling quickly in the tight Northern Division, the SwampBats needed at least one victory in the double header against the Nighthawks.
Andrew O'Brien (Riverside) got his fifth start of the season and it was not his best.
Upper Valley got out to a quick lead in the top of the first inning when Joey Denison (Troy) hit a 2-run home run to dead center, a ball in which center fielder Jordan Howard (Lee) did not even turn around to watch it go.
O'Brien settled down when he came out for the 2nd inning, striking out the side and it appeared that he had found his form. However, the Nighthawks jumped on him again in the 3rd inning, tacking on another run and it could have been more had it not been for a timely double to end the inning.
Down 3-0 heading into the bottom of 3rd, the SwampBats showed some fight. Iero singled to score Christman and a Howard's single brought home Josh Shaw (St. John's) to cut the âBats deficit to one. The next at bat, Ryan Costello (Central Connecticut) was first pitch swinging on Joseph Levasseur (St. Anselm) and lined one just fair down the right field line to bring home Howard and tie the game at three.
It would not be tied for long.
Upper Valley would add four runs in the top of the 4th inning, led by the 2-run single from Austin Embler (UNC-Greensboro) and that would end the day for O'Brien.
Once again, Keene showed they were not about to roll over.
Benefiting from an error on Grayson Byrd (Clemson) to lead off the bottom of the 5th, Christman advanced to first and Shaw and hit back-to-back singles to load the bases. Howard hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Christman and Shaw scored on the Costello fielder's choice to make it a 7-5 game.
The âBats were not done there. In the 6th, Shaw hit a double into the left field gap to bring home Patrick Sullivan (Georgia) and Iero hit a sac fly to left field to score Tommy LaCongo (St. Bonaventure) to tie the game.
Keene and Upper Valley would both threat in the 7th but were unable to capitalize.
Since it was a doubleheader, both games were scheduled to go seven innings but that was not in the plans for the SwampBats and Nighthawks.
Ivon Clough (Southern New Hampshire) came in relief for Carmen Giampetruzzi (Boston Col.) in the 8th and retired the first three batters he faced.
It was the SwampBats turn to see if they could walk it off and they capitalized.
Christman hit an infield single and Shaw advanced to first on a fielder's choice to put the winning run in scoring position. Iero hit the 0-1 pitch into the left field and Christman slid into home to win it for the âBats.
Game two of the double header is scheduled to start in approximately 30 minutes.
The game can heard on the NECBL Broadcast Network and FM 104.1 and AM 1220 ESPN Keene.
• Discuss this story on the New England Collegiate Baseball League message board...
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 19, 2016
- Mystic 9 , New Bedford 3 - Mystic Schooners
- Bats Win 8-7 - Keene Swamp Bats
- Swamp Bats Split Doubleheader - Keene Swamp Bats
- North Adams Tops Vermont 7-2 - Vermont Mountaineers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
