Everything Comes Together as Mainers Defeat Vermont in Fourth Try
June 30, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett and Devin Russell
(Sanford Mainers, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
MONTPELIER, Vt. - It is said that the third time's the charm, but for the Sanford Mainers it was one extra try that got the job done against Vermont as dominant pitching and timely hitting late in the game led to a 8-3 victory on Friday night.
At first glance it looked as if the green and yellow might even need a fifth try to get the best of their North Division foe as the Mountaineers took the early lead.
Seamus Barrett (Loyola Marymount) allowed the first two hitters he faced to get on base. Brandon Butterworth (Western Carolina) hit a leadoff single one at-bat prior to Luke Cantwell (Pittsburgh), who hit a solo home run off Barrett in their first meeting, working a walk.
A bloop shot into right-center field off the bat of Grant Voytovich (Bucknell) gave the Mountaineers the early 2-0 lead as both runners, who had advanced to second and third base on a double steal, touched home plate.
Barrett struck out Marshall Toole (Wofford) to get himself out of further trouble and record his third strikeout of the inning.
The Mainers put runner on second and third with one-out in the top of the second, but Simmi Whitehill (Maryland) lined a ball right to Jace Jeremiah (St. John's) who made the catch and then dove to third to double off Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt).
Two innings later, the Moose tied up the game on one swing of the bat from Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt). Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) leadoff the top of the fourth with a walk before Hewett deposited a ball 371 feet to left field to even the score at 2-2.
Ben Adams (St. John's) came into the game in relief of Aidan Risse (Bard) after the righty allowed Poteet and Kevin Skagerlind (UMass Amherst) to reach second and third. Adams retired the two hitters he faced in the fourth to set down the Mainers without further trouble.
Sanford put itself in prime position to score in the fifth as it loaded the bases, but Brendan McFall (Northeastern) stranded all three when he got Skagerlind to pop out to Butterworth at shortstop. With three more runners stranded on the basepaths, the Mainers were up to eight men left on base, five of which were in scoring position, at the end of five innings.
The Mainers turned that around in the visitor's portion of the sixth though, as not only did they put runners on, but managed to also get one around. Whitehill led off the frame with a single and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout.
Devan Bade (Binghamton) found his way on base with a two-out walk to put runners on the corners. Bade garnered the attention of Luke Carpenter (Dartmouth), who attempted a pickoff move on Bade. The ball went wide of the first baseman Cantwell and allowed Whitehill to score for a 3-2 lead.
In the bottom of the same frame, Cantwell became just the second baserunner to reach base for the Mountaineers since the top of the first inning. Two batters following the walk, Santino Rosso (Hofstra) singled to center field and the ball trickled by Hewett allowing Cantwell to score.
Barrett got Voytovich to fly out to end the frame, which proved to be the end of the line for the 6-foot-7 right-handed pitcher. The Kennebunk, Maine native pitched six innings, allowing three runs, just two of which were earned, four hits and striking out 10 Mountaineers.
After Barrett gave it his all during a 98-pitch effort, the Mainers lineup gave it their all, with a little bit of help from a fielding miscue, to give their teammate the win.
Toomey worked a leadoff walk and with two outs Skagerlind singled into center field. In a nearly identical play to the one a half-inning prior, the ball got by Vermont's center fielder Toole and Toomey circled the bases for the go-ahead run.
That run was met with four insurance runs in the next inning after Zack Given (UMass Amherst) worked a scoreless bottom of the seventh.
Matt Miceli (Stony Brook), Nick Roselli (Binghamton) and Bade loaded the bases on three consecutive walks against Valentino Taddei (Lehigh). Taddei threw two balls to Matt Polk (Vanderbilt) before he was replaced for Tyler Cox (Dartmouth).
Polk greeted Cox, who normally serves as an infielder, with a bloop single over first base to score Miceli. Toomey brought in Roselli with a sacrifice fly and Poteet extended his hitting streak to nine games with a two-RBI single that finished the job.
Bryce Afthim (Southern Maine) went two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to lock down the 8-3 victory for the Mainers.
Sanford looks to put it all together again tomorrow at home as they send Ryan Dee (Binghamton) to the mound against Valley.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett and Devin Russell (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 30, 2023
- Everything Comes Together as Mainers Defeat Vermont in Fourth Try - Sanford Mainers
- Vermont's Offense Held in Check in Loss to Sanford - Vermont Mountaineers
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