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Bay Soxs Win

July 22, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
New Bedford Bay Sox News Release


In a season filled with crazy endings, walk-off wins and losses, and lengthy ballgames, Friday's night contest between the New Bedford Bay Sox and the Mystic Schooners takes the crowd for the wildest game of the NECBL season.

A rain delay without any substantial rain, 19 runs scored in the span of six innings, lightning striking in the distance while play continued, and an unsanctioned rock paper scissors battle to determine the victor encompassed a five-hour game that ended in a 10-9 victory for the Bay Sox after the game was called in the middle of the seventh inning.

The umpires ruled that due to the radar and the severe weather in the area, the game would be called with Mystic having the bases loaded with a 3-2 count and two outs. The top of the seventh inning does not count, and the game will officially be listed as a 10-9 win after six innings of play.

Daniel Southerland (Wheaton) picked up the win in relief, yielding two runs on three hits in 2.2 innings of work. Ryan Baldwin (Barry) and Alex Mata (St. Leo) homered for the Bay Sox, who move to 17-18 and are a half-game ahead of Danbury for the final playoff spot with nine games remaining in the season.

The first-place Schooners, who had won four games in a row and 12 of their last 14 coming into Friday's contest, scored the first run of the game on a two-out RBI single by Richard Slenker. Slenker drove in Mystic's Nick Mascelli, who continued his torrid streak by reaching base for the 16th consecutive plate appearance with a one-out walk. The Schooners' second baseman was 6-for-6 with three doubles and six RBIs in Mystic's 18-4 win over Keene on Thursday evening.

New Bedford squandered a great chance to counter the Mystic run in the bottom of the first, as both Andrew Penner (Los Angeles Valley) and Chandler Debrosse (Central Connecticut State) reached on base hits to lead off the frame. With runners on second and third and no outs, the Sox could not plate a run, as the 3-4-5 hitters came up empty (groundout to first, strikeout, pop out to short).

After a 1-2-3 top of the second that included a single and a caught stealing, the Bay Sox evened the game at 1-1, as Mata utilized the breezy conditions at Paul Walsh Field to lift his first home run of the season over the left field wall. Mata's solo shot looked like a high fly ball to left, but just kept carrying, as the wind was whipping from right to left in New Bedford. The Bay Sox took the lead soon after Mata's homer, with Danny DiMare (Santa Fe CC) drawing a walk and moving to second on a wild pitch before scoring on T.J. Dixon's (Samford) infield double that deflected off the glove of the first baseman before slowly entering right field. Penner was hit by a pitch to place two runners on base for Debrosse, who roped a double to deep left center to push across the third and fourth run of the inning. Jakob Goldfarb (Oregon) singled over the head of Mascelli for another RBI, as Debrosse aggressively rounded third, which drew a weak throw from the outfield.

The high-powered Schooners offense struck in the top of the third inning, bouncing New Bedford starter P.J. Poulin Jr. (UConn) after he allowed five baserunners on three doubles and two walks. Poulin walked Mystic's Aaron Hill with two outs, and grabbed his shoulder after the last pitch. Southerland came into the game in a precarious position, as Mystic had already scored twice and the bases loaded, and the reliever allowed an infield single to cut New Bedford's lead to 5-4. Southerland uncorked a wild pitch, which scored the tying run (which was the second run of the inning plated on a wild pitch), and then got out of the nightmare with a groundout to first.

Baldwin took the first pitch of the bottom of the third and launched it to deep center for his second home run of the season - his first bomb since the home opener on June 12th. The Bay Sox have now hit more than one homer in three straight games, as Goldfarb and Jessey Valdez (Maryland Eastern Shore) hit solo homers on Wednesday night and Robbie Doring (Dayton) launched two homers in the same inning on Thursday.

Mystic tied the game up in the top of the fourth, as Toby Handley ripped a one-out double to left field, reached third on a fielder's choice (Doring tried to cut him down at third but Debrosse dropped the throw), and scored on a sacrifice fly.

New Bedford re-took the lead again in the bottom of the fourth, as Goldfarb drove in Penner with a single to center field, and Baldwin missed his second home run of the game by a few feet, crushing a two-run double to right center field to plate Goldfarb and Doring for a 9-6 lead. Mystic reliever Ryan Connolly lasted just .1 inning in the fourth, tossing four wild pitches while allowing two hits and one walk before being lifted. The onslaught continued after he left the game, as Mata singled to plate Baldwin for the tenth Bay Sox run.

As if scoring 16 runs in the span of five innings didn't make the game last long enough, the game was halted in the top of the sixth with one out after umpires witnessed lightning in the area. After a delay of around an hour, and with the tarp on the field, both managers agreed to attempt to continue the game with one out. The final length of the delay was 1:28, and St. Leo pitcher Dylan Collett was on the mound for the Bay Sox. Collett retired the first batter he faced, but allowed a two-run homer to Richard Slenker and a triple that scored on an error by Connor Hoover (North Georgia), who had replaced Debrosse in the bottom of the fifth and airmailed the throw to third base.

Collett was ineffective in his outing, and was replaced by Matthew Leon (Seton Hall) after allowing a single and a walk to start the top of the seventh inning. Leon allowed a walk to load the bases, then retired Hundley via a weak pop up to second, and struck out Mascelli as lightning began to become visible in right field again. With the count 3-2 and two outs in the inning, the umps pulled the teams off the field again, to the loud dismay of both sides.

The Bay Sox will host Newport on Saturday night and Vermont on Sunday night to close out their week of games.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 22, 2016


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