Keene sweeps Vermont, advances to Western Division Finals
Published on August 4, 2012 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Keene Swamp Bats News Release
Montpelier, VT- The Keene Swamp Bats completed its two-game sweep of the Vermont Mountaineers Saturday night to advance to the Western Division Finals. Keene defeated Vermont 8-6 to eliminate the Mountaineers from playoff contention.
Despite a four-run comeback effort from the Mountaineers in the bottom of the ninth inning, Vermont was not able to erase a six-run deficit to save its season.
Scott Simon (Washington St.) toed the rubber for Keene, matching up with Casey Delgado (Austin Peay) for Vermont in a must-win game for the Mountaineers.
Vermont certainly started off the game with a bang, as Rob Kelly (St. Anselm) homered on the first pitch of the game from Simon. Kelly, who was moved up to the lead-off spot for Vermont in game 2, quickly got to Simon to give the Mountaineers the 1-0 lead. Kelly had led the NECBL in runs batted in during the regular season, putting up a record-breaking 45 RBI.
Delgado pitched a very efficient first three innings for the Mountaineers before falling into trouble in the top of the fourth. With one out, JP Sportman (Central Connecticut St.) drew a walk against Delgado, the only walk he gave up in the game. Sportman came around to score on an RBI double from Frankie Schwindel (St. John's). Two batters later, with two outs, Cameron O'Brien (Louisville) blooped a single into shallow center field, scoring Schwindel from second to give Keene a 2-1 lead.
Fran Whitten (Maine), the next batter, launched an RBI double to straight-away center field to score O'Brien from first and give Keene a 3-1 lead. The two out rally continued, with RBI singles from Dylan Moore (Cypress Community College) and Mike Papi (Virginia) to extend the lead to 5-1.
Delgado was pulled from the game after Papi's RBI single after an effective first three innings on the mound. He finished after 3.2 innings pitched, giving up five runs (four earned) on seven hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.
Vermont scratched out a run to make the score 5-2 in the bottom of the fourth. Brett Johnson (TCU) tripled to deep centerfield, and scored on an RBI groundout from Cole Peragine (Stony Brook).
Keene added an insurance run in the top of the seventh inning off of Vermont reliever Matt McAllister (Westchester). Schwindel launched an RBI double off the wall in left-center field, scoring Grant Kay (Iowa Western CC). Schwindel finished the game 2-5 with two runs batted in and a run scored.
Simon continued to work on the mound for Keene entering the bottom of the eighth inning. Through the first seven innings on the mound, Simon only threw 69 pitches, while giving up two runs. He retired the last 12 batters he faced. Simon finished his impressive performance with seven innings pitched, allowing two runs (both earned) on only three hits and one walk with five strikeouts.
The Swamp Bats put two more runs on the board in the top of the eighth to extend its lead to 8-2. Moore's second RBI single of the game paired with an RBI fielder's choice for Dylan Delacruz (Central Connecticut St.) extended Keene's lead to 8-2.
David Mahoney (UConn) entered the game to finish off the Mountaineers for the final two innings. He pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the eighth, but was quickly pulled in the bottom of the ninth after giving up a two-run homer to Logan Pierce (Troy), which brought Vermont within four runs.
With one out, Mahoney was taken out for Rob Rogers (Keystone College), who gave up two singles with one strikeout in the three batters he faced to bring Vermont within three runs. Tyler Gauthier (Southern NH) then came on to finish the game for Keene. He then allowed Ryan Karl (Louisville) to reach on an error, which scored a runner from second to make the score 8-6.
PJ Jones (Washington St.) replaced Karl as a pinch runner at first, while Greg Partyka (Bradley) stepped up as a pinch hitter as well. With Partyka representing the tying run, Jones took off from first to attempt to steal second base. Unfortunately for Vermont, Jones was thrown out by O'Brien to not only end the game, but end the season for the Mountaineers. In a season where Vermont stole 112 bases as a team, second-most in NECBL history, its season ended on an attempted steal.
With Keene holding on for the 8-6 win, the Swamp Bats successfully swept the Mountaineers to advance to the Western Division Finals. Keene will have home field advantage with the series starting Monday night at 6:30 pm at Alumni Field. They will take on the winner of the Danbury - North Adams series, which will have a decisive game three played tomorrow at Rogers Park in Danbury, Conn.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 4, 2012
- Mainers Force Game Three in Extra-Inning Thriller - Sanford Mainers
- Keene sweeps Vermont, advances to Western Division Finals - Keene Swamp Bats
- Mountaineers Season Ends in First Round Sweep - Vermont Mountaineers
- SteepleCats Force Game 3 with 4-2 Win over Danbury Saturday Night - North Adams SteepleCats
- Newport Defeats Sanford 14-2 in Game One - Newport Gulls
- Newport Offense Take Game One - Sanford Mainers
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