NECBL New England Collegiate Baseball League

Laconia, Sanford, Holyoke and Keene Advance to NECBL Semi-Finals

Published on August 6, 2011 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) News Release


The biggest shock of the first round came in the Eastern Division as #4-seed Laconia swept #1-seeded Newport. It was hard to believe that on July 3rd, the top-seeded Gulls stood at 5-8, having just been thumped 14-8 by Danbury in Newport's home park.

The Gulls furiously rallied to win 24 of their final 29, and concluded the regular season with an NECBL-best 29-13 mark. Outstanding pitching led the way; Jacob Lee (Arkansas State), Michael Dimock (Wake Forest), Eddie Campbell (Virginia Tech) and Brandon Sinnery (Michigan) combined to give Newport over 135 innings at a microscopic 1.13 ERA.

But there was some Muskrat Magic in Laconia. In the opening game, Muskrats Bijan Rademacher (Cal State Fullerton), Chris Costantino (Walters State) and Dylan Kelly (Middle Georgia College) assembled consecutive two-out, eighth inning RBI singles to put Laconia up 4-3, which provided to be the final score. The next night, Laconia's Regan Flaherty (Vanderbilt) belted a three-run homer as the Muskrats hung on to an 8-7 lead, and a series sweep.

Laconia faces #3-seed Sanford in the Eastern Division final. #2-seed North Shore and Sanford took turns bludgeoning each other in the first two games. Host North Shore won game one 8-0 behind Dario Pizzano's (Columbia) three RBI and lefty Crayton Bare's (Baylor) seven inning start, during which he yielded just four hits.

The next night in Maine, it was the host Mainers' turn to pitch a lopsided shutout. Sanford won 6-0. Tommy Lawrence (Winthrop) went the distance, scattering just five hits while Mainer Brett Mollenhauer (Radford) drove in three. Sanford posted the exact same story line in the clinching Game Three- Mollenhauer again drove in three runs while pitchers Tripp Davis (NJIT) and Brendan Hourihan (Cortland State) combined to blank North Shore 7-0.

In the tightly packed Western Division, where just three regular season games separated #1-seed Keene from #4-seed Danbury, #2-seeded Holyoke swept #3-seeded Vermont in the first round. The Mountaineers pitching staff did a good job against Holyoke's vaunted bats, holding the Blue Sox to only four runs in both games.

But four runs were enough in both cases to get a "W". Holyoke starter D.J. Brown (James Madison) held the Mountaineers to just four hits in seven innings in the Blue Sox' 4-3 opening win. The next night in Vermont, Ben Mount (USC) threw a complete game, two hitter and Trey Mancini (Notre Dame) drove in two as Holyoke won 4-1.

Holyoke travels to Keene, who won their series in three games. The top-seeded Swamp Bats won the opener against Danbury 7-3. Georgia Bulldogs Brett DeLoach and Colby May both homered while standout pitcher Jeff Thompson (Louisville) held the Westerners to two hits in six innings. The next night, Danbury blanked Keene 6-0. Danbury's Mike Augliera (Binghamton) joined Lawrence in throwing a complete game shutout while Westerners Tanner Krietemaier (Nebraska) and Chad Morgan (Virginia Tech) both slammed a homer and combined to drive in five.

In Game Three, Keene posted three runs in the fourth and two more in the fifth to build a commanding lead en route to their 6-1 victory. Keene's Whit Mayberry (Virginia) allowed just four base runners while striking out nine in six shutout innings to get the win.

The best-of-three Divisional Finals start tonight. Holyoke heads to Keene while Sanford hosts Laconia. Both games have a 6:30 first pitch.

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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 6, 2011


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