How Sweep Is It? Mainers Take Both Games of Doubleheader Against Danbury
June 21, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers celebrate win
(Sanford Mainers, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
DANBURY, Connecticut - It was anything but a twin bill between the Sanford Mainers and Danbury Westerners on Tuesday evening as the Mainers pulled off the doubleheader sweep in games that could not be any more opposite.
Despite taking the four-hour drive down to Danbury, the Mainers served as the home team for the first of the two games as part of the rescheduled doubleheader that was set to take place at Goodall Park this past Saturday.
After Justin Honeycutt (UNC Asheville) threw a scoreless top of the first inning, the Mainers were quick to attack in the home portion of the frame.
Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt) sent the first pitch he saw this summer, which came from Danbury starter Jack Keenan (Marist), over the centerfield fence as part of a two-run opening inning for the green and yellow.
Danbury struck for one in the top of the third, but the Mainers knocked the game wide open with a three-spot in the bottom of the fourth.
The Moose loaded the bases on a trio of free passes, two walks and a hit-by-pitch, before Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) drove in the first of the three runs with a sacrifice fly.
With an open spot on the bases, Hewett got on base with the second hit-by-pitch of a Mainer in the fourth, giving Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech) the opportunity to do damage. Eisert did just that as he delivered an RBI single to put Sanford ahead 4-1.
Batting one spot after Eisert, Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt) reached base safely on an error by Hayden Miller (Charleston) that not only would have ended the inning, but also allowed Levi McAllister (UConn) to score.
A half-inning later the Westerners delivered a swift response putting up two runs against Chris Gallagher (Wright State), who replaced Honeycutt after four innings of four-hit, one-run baseball.
Gallagher allowed singles to the first two hitters he faced in Billy Gerlott (Penn State) and Mike Becchetti (Fairfield) but bounced back in his next at-bat.
The Raider righty drew up just what the doctor ordered by way of a 6-4-3 double play, trading a run, Gerlott, for the two outs. However, Gallagher could not close the door in the fifth right away as right after one Nittany Lion touched home plate another, Anthony Steele, came to the plate and rounded the bases to cut the deficit to two on a solo home run.
Devan Bade (Binghamton) matched the home run of Steele in the bottom of the fifth that put the Mainers back up by four before the two teams traded runs in the sixth to send the game into its final frame with the Mainers up 7-4 heading into the final frame.
In his second inning of work in relief of Gallagher, Zach Johnston (Wake Forest) struggled to get the final three outs that the Mainers needed to snap a three-game losing streak.
Two of the first three Danbury hitters who came to the plate in the top of the seventh inning reached base leading to runners on first and second for pinch hitter Bobby Zmarzlak (Maryland). The Terrapin flashed his power on a game-tying, three-run home run that traveled well over the center field fence.
Nick Thompson (Colby) allowed the extra-inning runner to score on a Becchetti single prior to working out of any further trouble to strand the bases loaded.
In the bottom of the eighth, two of the first three hitters for the Mainers were retired via the strikeout by Carter Kelsey (Seton Hall) leaving Eisert as the last chance. Eisert turned out not to be the last chance as he worked a walk after falling behind in the count leaving the game hanging in the balance for Poteet.
Poteet struck out on a pitch in the dirt, but Aidan Jolley (Georgia Tech) struggled to corral the ball and once he did, he airmailed the ball over the head of Luke Boynton (Georgia State) giving way for Simmi Whitehill (Maryland) and Miceli to score for a 9-8 walk-off victory.
Riding the momentum of the first game, the Mainers sent Ryan Dee (Binghamton) to slow the Danbury lineup in game two.
Dee indeed did that posting six scoreless innings of baseball yielding just four hits and one walk while striking out five Westerners. Dee matched his collegiate career-high in both innings and strikeouts, but the issue for the Mainers is that his counterpart bested both of those totals.
Braden Quinn (UConn) retired five of the first six hitter he faced on strikeouts, which was indicative of how most battles between the Husky and the Moose went in the nightcap.
Quinn struck out 14 batters while throwing the full seven innings for the Westerners, but his one mistake proved to be costly.
To begin the middle frame of the second game, Eisert hit a home run off Quinn to put the green and yellow ahead 1-0.
Dee kept that 1-0 lead intact through six, paving the way for Jack Mullen (Bowdoin) to lock down the game out of the bullpen for the Mainers.
Mullen retired the first two hitters of the bottom of the seventh, but Drew Wyers (Stetson) and Joey Skarad (Sacred Heart) kept the game afloat with back-to-back singles. Mullen then got leadoff hitter Joseph Rubin (Rollins) to fly out to right field to end the drama and finish off Sanford's second win of the day.
The Mainers look to extend their winning streak when they play Mystic Wednesday at noon.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers celebrate win (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 21, 2023
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