'Cats Bats Prove to be Steep Task for Sanford
June 26, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Maine - In a back-and-forth affair at Goodall Park, the North Adams SteepleCats walked away victorious 9-5 over the Sanford Mainers punctuated by a ninth-inning grand slam on Wednesday evening.
North Adams' offense was humming from start to finish as Antonio Morales (Wake Forest) led off the game with a single off Colton Trisch (George Washington). Morales did not stay on first base for long as Elijah Lambros (Maryland) doubled right down the third base line on the next pitch.
Morales came around to score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of David McCann (Virginia Tech). Lambros scored two batters later on a double by Nick Guachione (Pennsylvania), who was tagged out between second and third to end the frame.
The Mainers got to work in the bottom of the first against former Sanford pitcher Michael Simes (UMass Lowell). Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and he advanced to second base on a stolen base and third base on a passed ball.
With Schaaf in scoring position, Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) hit a sacrifice fly that cut the SteepleCats' lead down to one. Two batters later, Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt) got a hold of a ball and hit it over the left-field fence for his second home run of the season that tied the game at two apiece.
In the top of the third, the visitors got that run back as Lambros launched a ball over that same left-field wall for a solo shot of his own. That was the right fielder's third home run of the season and the first of three hit by the SteepleCats.
"They took advantage of pitches that were not executed," Nic Lops said of North Adams' success at the plate. "Every pitch that was hit out was a missed spot, but it was also a good job of ambushing on their part."
C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac) jump-started the Mainers in the fourth as he led off the inning with a single that left his bat at 104 miles per hour. Willis turned the single into two bases as he broke for second base on his eighth steal of the season.
After Barczi was retired, Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) picked up his collegiate teammate with a single to left field. Velazquez's single was more than enough to score Willis as the Mainers tied the game back up at 4-4.
Two innings later, Velazquez delivered again on another single to left field. His second hit of the game also scored Willis, who reached third base on a single that turned into a triple on an errant throw by Morales in left field, although Davis was tagged out at home following a ricochet off the backstop.
"Ray to work that full count in the bottom of the sixth and drive in that run to give us a lead was huge," Lops said of his five-hole hitter.
Sanford gave that 5-4 lead back a half-inning later as with two outs Jake Kulikowski (Miami) singled off Zach Brassill (Southern New Hampshire) to keep the inning alive. The next batter, Lambros, left the park for the second time as North Adams took back its one-run advantage.
In the bottom of the eighth, Willis, who entered the day with a team-leading .370 batting average, recorded his third hit of the night on a ball that got to the left field wall.
Willis, who got to second on his ninth double of the season, was one base as Joe Sabbath (Rhode Island) faced Barczi. The third pitch of the at-bat got to the backstop and Willis broke for third.
After seeing Derek Paris (UMBC) being late getting to that ball, Willis came hustling around third base and slid safely into home plate just under the tag of Sabbath.
"Speed kills, you can't teach it," Lops said of the Mainers, who lead the league with 51 stolen bases. "I was kind of holding my breath when he made the turn. We can live with aggressive mistakes, but this one ended up working in our favor."
In the ninth, Daniel Perron Jr. (Rhode Island), Kulikowski and Lambros were all issued walks by Conner Griffin (Binghamton). With the bases loaded and two away, McCann cleared the right-field wall for a grand slam that gave North Adams a 9-5 advantage.
That lead held as Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) was stranded on first base after a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth. The Mainers head to Connecticut to face Danbury tomorrow night with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
"You see how this season can ebb and flow," Lops said of the Mainers' three-game losing skid. "There was a point a week or two ago where we had won three in a row and all of which were shutouts. So, you see the highest highs and the lowest lows. Right now, we're certainly in a little skid."
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 26, 2024
- 'Cats Bats Prove to be Steep Task for Sanford - Sanford Mainers
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