Ellisen's Gem Propels Mainers to Playoff-Clinching, Streak-Extending Victory
July 27, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Tommy Ellisen on the mound
(, Credit: Madison Giltner Photo)
SANFORD, Maine - As the weather started heating back up in Maine, two of the hottest teams in the NECBL met at Goodall Park as the Sanford Mainers moved their win streak to eight games after defeating the Vermont Mountaineers, who came into the day with a 10-game win streak, 7-1 on Friday night.
The Mainers struck first in the bottom of the third after Tommy Ellisen (UConn) posted three consecutive three-up, three-down innings behind four strikeouts.
Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) worked a walk off Nick Falter (Denison) to begin the home portion of the third before moving to third base on Jared Davis' (Virginia Tech) first hit of the contest. With runners on the corners, Caleb Shpur (UConn) gave his collegiate teammate on the mound a lead behind a hard-hit ball that fell in center field.
Shpur's single not only scored Velazquez to give the Mainers the one-run lead but also extended his hitting streak to nine games.
"I thought we hit our low of lows a couple of Sundays ago at their place," manager Nic Lops said of his team. "That's when we had our postgame talk about getting everybody in the dugout and everybody locked in on every single pitch. I thought that's what we did better than them tonight on every pitch from start to finish. We had a bench full of guys that were locked in and energized for one another."
An inning later, Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt), who had extended his hitting streak to nine games with his second-inning single, hit an infield single that saw him advance to second following a throwing error by Pierce Bauerle (Eastern Illinois).
Bauerle's error, which allowed Barczi to advance into scoring position, proved costly as Evin Sullivan (Binghamton) delivered a single to center field. Sullivan's single pulled Josiah Ragsdale (Boston College) into the right-center field gap, giving Barczi plenty of time to score Sanford's second run.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Davis manufactured a run by himself after a leadoff single turned into a triple by way of two stolen bases. Davis, who sits two stolen bases away from Sanford's all-time single-season record of 32, came around to score on a wild pitch during C.J. Willis' plate appearance.
Willis finished that plate appearance with a walk before Barczi followed him with a walk of his own putting two runners on the basepaths for Devan Bade (Binghamton).
"Having that star power in your lineup certainly helps you breathe a little easier in the coaching box," Lops said of having Bade, Barczi and Willis in the lineup together for the first time in 13 days. "We can't get complacent because games aren't won on paper. It's certainly nice to have them in the lineup, but we need to keep executing."
Bade, who came into his third at-bat of the game 0-for-2, powered a low 2-2 pitch over the left-field wall that scored both Barczi and Willis and doubled Sanford's lead to six runs. The 361-foot home run was Bade's team-leading sixth of the season breaking a tie with Velazquez.
"He's the captain, but he's also 'Captain Clutch' for a reason," Lops said of the third-year Mainer. "Devan is a guy that doesn't care about his personal statistics. Devan wants to compete. Devan wants to win plain and simple, and he sets the tone for this team."
Ellisen followed suit by working around two-out walks in both the sixth and seventh innings to keep the Mountaineers' league-leading offense off the board. However, when the Wisconsin native trotted out the mound for the eighth, Vermont got to the right-handed pitcher.
Nathan Waugh (Georgia Tech) doubled, and Casey Bishop (Towson) singled to bring up Johnny Knox (Nichols College) with runners on the corners. Knox flew a ball to Willis in left field to bring home Waugh on a sacrifice fly ending Sanford's bid for its sixth shutout.
Following Knox's sacrifice fly, Ellisen was removed from the ballgame with Bishop being his responsibility at first base.
"That's the best I've seen him work all summer," Lops said of Ellisen. "That lineup is no joke. For him to just set the tone out there even early when it was a really close one-run ballgame, he kept us in it. He gave the bats confidence that he was going to give us a great chance to win."
Beau Brailey (Alabama) came out of the bullpen for Sanford. Against the first batter he saw, Brennan Hyde (Rutgers), Sullivan threw out Bishop trying to steal second base before Brailey finished the inning with a strikeout.
Sanford tacked on another run in the bottom of the eighth behind doubles by Sullivan and Velazquez before Brailey worked around two two-out singles to record the final out of the ballgame in the top of the ninth.
That final out, which was caught by Jackson Tucker (St. John's) in center field, came moments after the Keene SwampBats defeated the Upper Valley Nighthawks. By virtue of their win and the Nighthawks' loss, the Sanford Mainers clinched their spot in the 2024 NECBL Postseason.
"It's incredible for the organization," Lops said of Sanford's playoff berth. "I'm just so happy for these players first and foremost, and then second for the fans. Another amazing crowd at Goodall Park. You cannot tell me that energy doesn't build when the fans show up and they're invested. They're loyal, and it's really nice to give them a good show on our home field."
The Mainers travel to face Upper Valley on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Tommy Ellisen on the mound (Madison Giltner Photo) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 27, 2024
- Mainers Fly Into Record Books In Victory Over Nighthawks - Sanford Mainers
- Vermont Clinches North Division with Doubleheader Sweep of Keene - Vermont Mountaineers
- Ellisen's Gem Propels Mainers to Playoff-Clinching, Streak-Extending Victory - Sanford Mainers
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