Mainers Blank Mountaineers on Opening Day
June 4, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
MONTPELIER, Vt. - It is widely accepted that the two best words in sports are 'game seven.' Right behind those two might just be 'opening day.'
In this year's edition of the NECBL Opening Day, the Sanford Mainers shut out the Vermont Mountaineers 2-0 en route to their first victory of the 2024 campaign on Tuesday evening.
It was a slow start for the Mainers bats as Jack Eshleman (Hamilton College) retired the first nine Mainers in order. In the fourth inning, Jared Davis (Florida Southwestern State) registered Sanford's first hit of the new season with a single.
Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) kept the inning going with a two-out walk, but the Mainers could not strike until the next frame.
Devan Kodali (Vanderbilt) reached on an error by shortstop Johnny Knox (Nichols College) before advancing to second on a groundout by Nathan Barksdale (Austin Peay). Two batters later, Kodali secured the Mainers' second stolen base of the game with Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) up to the plate.
On the next pitch, Miceli lined a ball into the left-center field gap that rolled all the way to the fence for a run-scoring triple to put the Mainers ahead 1-0. Four pitches later, Miceli put Sanford ahead 2-0 as he touched home plate on a passed ball.
Connor Ball (Alabama) returned to the bump in the bottom of the fifth inning with the first lead of the ballgame. Ball, who had already gone four innings of one-hit baseball, allowed a single in the fifth but kept the home team off the scoreboard after stranding a runner in scoring position with a strikeout.
After Kodali and Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) were stranded on the basepaths following back-to-back two-out singles in the top of the sixth, Ball went back out to the mound for the bottom of the frame.
Casey Bishop (Towson) singled to right field, but Toomey, with the help of Miceli on the tag, erased him as he attempted to stretch a single into a double. On the first pitch of the next at-bat, Cam Santerre (Stony Brook) lined a ball that looked destined for left field, but Miceli, his college teammate, showed off his hops on a leaping grab for the second out.
Ball finished his outing after getting the next batter, Max Jensen (Cornell), to fly out to left field. The left-handed pitcher finished the day with a line of six innings pitched, three hits, zero runs, four strikeouts and zero walks.
The Alabama native handed the ball off to second-year Mainer Chris Gallagher (Wright State), who worked a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh. When he returned for the eighth, Gallagher worked into trouble as three walks and a fielder's choice loaded the bases.
After a mound visit, the rising senior, who worked heroics on multiple occasions last season, got Jensen to ground out to Davis at second base to end the threat.
Aidan Colagrande (Fairfield) came on to shut the door in the ninth inning. The Long Island native allowed a one-out walk to Knox before getting the second out of the final frame via a popout.
Colagrande surrendered a two-out walk to Josean Sanchez (Erskine College) but made quick work of Nathan Waugh (Georgia Tech) with a three-pitch strikeout to secure the save.
Sanford looks to start the season 2-0 as it travels to Massachusetts to face the Valley Blue Sox. That game will stream exclusively on ESPN+.
• Discuss this story on the New England Collegiate Baseball League message board...
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 4, 2024
- Mainers Blank Mountaineers on Opening Day - Sanford Mainers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
