Mainers Drop Tight Game in Extras Against the Swamp Bats

July 10, 2018 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release


Sanford - After more than a week away from home, Sanford Mainers fans were treated to a little free baseball on Monday night albeit not the result they wanted as the Moose fell in 10 innings to the Keene Swamp Bats by a final of 5-3. With the win, Keene jumped over the Mainers into second place in the Northern Division as they have now won eight of their last 10 games.

For the second straight game the Mainers were able to jump on top early as they saw two runs come around in the bottom of the 1st. After back to back singles to lead off the inning by Nick Howie (Oakville, Ontario, Canada/Eastern Kentucky) and Austin Lively (Redmond, Wash./Seattle), a Johnny Rizer (Cypress, Texas/Texas Christian University) fielder's choice ground out scored Howie and a passed ball brought home Lively to give the Moose a 2-0 lead after one.

Dylan Hall (Stafford, Va./Virginia Tech) turned in his best start on the mound for the Mainers in this 2018 season as he threw 4.2 innings allowing just one earned run on only three hits and striking out five, which included retiring the first 10 hitters that he faced.

Keene was able to put up three runs over the 5th and 6th innings to jump on top of the Mainers by a score of 3-2 as the game moved to the 7th inning.

In the bottom of the 7th, Sanford was able to tie the game up as Austin Biggar (Lilburn, Ga./Georgia) singled to lead off the inning and Lively was able to bring him home on a fielder's choice which knotted the game up at 3 apiece.

The bullpen for the Mainers did their job through the final three frames of regulation baseball as Will Kazura (Saddle Brook, N.J./Felician), Jack Weisenburger (Rockford, Mich./Michigan) and John Murphy (Merchantville, N.J./Maryland) allowed just three hits and no runs which brought the Moose up with a chance to win it in the bottom of the 9th.

After Conner Shepherd (Upland, Calif./Texas Christian University) drew a lead off walk and a Jonathan White (Lawrenceville, Ga./Presbyterian) sacrifice bunt moved him over to second the table was set for a walk off opportunity. To make it even more interesting, a pair of two-out walks loaded the bases for the Mainers, but Keene was able to wiggle their way out of a sticky situation and send the game into extras.

The Swamp Bats were able to plate two in the top of the 10th after a walk and a controversial hit-by-pitch as Brandon Smith ripped a one-out, two run triple that gave Keene all the runs they needed to sneak out of Goodall Park with the win.

Sanford will have a day off on Tuesday but start a stretch of seven games in just six days on Wednesday as they travel to Newport to take on the Gulls. You can catch all the action live on the NECBL Broadcast Network or tune in on 102.3 FM "The Legends" back in Sanford.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 10, 2018


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