Jenkins Delivers in the Ninth for Mainers' Win
June 13, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Jeremiah Jenkins at bat
(Sanford Mainers, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
SANFORD, Maine -Down but never out.
Trailing by one with two strikes and two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Jeremiah Jenkins (Maine) buried a ball over the right field fence to help the Sanford Mainers snatch victory from North Adams on Tuesday night.
While it was the big blast of Jenkins that turned out to be the difference maker, it was the pitchers who had the upper hand early and for most of the game.
Justin Honeycutt (UNC Asheville) and Dominick Marcoccio (Wofford) got the nods from their skippers and neither of them disappointed.
Honeycutt provided 5.2 innings of shutout baseball while striking out three and allowing just three batters to reach base.
With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Declan Lavelle (Fordham) replaced Honeycutt on the mound. Lavelle worked a battle against the first hitter he faced in Sam Tackett (Virginia Tech), but it was Tackett who came out victorious delivering a go-ahead solo home run.
The SteepleCats did not let their starter pitch with that newfound lead as David Lally (Notre Dame) had already been warming in the bullpen prior to the home run. Marcoccio finished in line for the victory after six innings of three-hit baseball while striking out seven.
Lally continued the success of the starter allowing just one baserunner to reach, by way of a Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) double, over his first two innings of work.
After Lally's second inning of work was finished, Jacob Jette (UMass Lowell) worked into and out of trouble in the bottom of the eighth. Jette fell behind to Tackett with runners on the corners but forced a popup to retire the side and keep the deficit at one.
North Adams' Ryan Abel kept Lally in the ballgame in the top of the ninth as the reliever looked to secure his second three-out save of the young season.
The Notre Dame product retired Nick Roselli (Binghamton) and Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt) but walked Cam Johnson (UNC Asheville) on a full-count pitch to keep the Moose alive.
That brought up Jenkins, who had already struck out against the hard-throwing righty in the seventh, and Lally worked ahead of him quickly.
But Jenkins kept battling and after fouling off the first 1-2 pitch, Jenkins turned on a ball, pulling it to right-center field and giving the Mainers their first lead of the contest.
Michael Simes (UMass Lowell) was thrusted into the closer role for the first time this season and answered the call throwing a 1-2-3 inning to give Sanford its second straight victory.
The Mainers have a day off tomorrow before returning to action against Valley on Thursday at Goodall Park.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Jeremiah Jenkins at bat (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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