Mainers Lasso Way into Win Column
June 28, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Devan Bade celebrates win
(Sanford Mainers)
DANBURY, Conn. - Riding a three-game losing streak that knocked them down to .500 on the season, the Sanford Mainers relied on stout pitching and a three-run second inning on Thursday evening to defeat the Danbury Westerners 3-1 en route to their 10th victory of the season.
Sanford was first to score as their three-spot in the second inning off Trace Florio (Lafayette) was propelled entirely by home runs.
Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) opened the inning with a lengthy, eight-pitch at-bat against Florio. The at-bat was extended on a dropped foul ball down the right field, and three pitches later Velazquez made the Westerners pay with a 347-foot home run to center field.
"You certainly like to get out to a lead in baseball," manager Nic Lops said of the early start for the offense. "Striking first is huge for setting the tone, but I would like to see us do a better job at continuing to add on throughout the game."
Jorge Burgos (Southern New Hampshire) helped Sanford continue to add on in the third as he worked a one-out walk. The next batter, Devan Bade (Binghamton), who grew up just about an hour away from Rogers Park in Southington, Connecticut, hit a ball 321 feet.
That 321-foot hit cleared the right field wall to put the Mainers ahead 3-0. Bade's home run was his third of the season and the shortest hit by a Mainer this season.
In the bottom of the following inning, Danbury got back one of those runs as Thomas Ellisen (UConn) hit Ryan Preisano (Wake Forest) with a pitch to kick off the inning.
To that point, Ellisen had retired seven of the first Westerners he saw, including five of which went down on strikeouts. The right-handed pitcher tried to pick off Preisano, but his throw went off the glove of Velazquez at first base and to the fence.
Preisano advanced to third, where he escaped during the next at-bat.
Jakobi Davis (Cornell) flew out to center field, but Jared Davis' (Virginia Tech) throw went through the body of Ryan Kolben (UMass Amherst) behind the plate. The error, which was charged to Kolben, allowed Davis to score for Danbury as the Westerners cut the deficit to two runs.
Ellisen finished the rest of the inning following two baserunners reaching with two outs. The Wisconsin native's final act was forcing a flyout by Daniel Labrador (Stetson) to end the third and his outing.
"Tommy had a relief role at UConn this year," Lops said of Ellisen, who finalized his line of three-inning baseball with five strikeouts and one earned run allowed. "It'll be a fun little experiment to tinker back and forth between starting and high-leverage situations with him this summer. He has great stuff."
Lops turned the ball over to Bijan Anvar (Franklin & Marshall), who, like Ellisen, shut down any of Danbury's attempts at advancing another run to the plate.
The right-handed pitcher worked a three up, three down inning in the fourth before allowing two runners to reach in the fifth. A line drive by Michael Iannazzo (Maryland) ended the inning as Burgos caught it and doubled off the runner.
"Bijan came out incredibly sharp, but then fell off a bit in the middle part of his outing as he just wasn't locating as well," Lops said of Anvar. "He really flipped a switch on a dime there to get those last couple outs. He really locked back in."
After Anvar worked around a leadoff walk in the sixth inning with a pair of strikeouts of Hayden Miller (Charleston) and Jaden Sheffield (Georgetown), the Mainers turned the ball to T.J. Curley (Stonehill) to keep the line moving.
Curley worked scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth innings with four strikeouts of Westerner hitters. Curley allowed a double to Iannazzo but then got the third strikeout of his appearance against Drew Wyers (Manhattan), which brought Lops to the mound.
"I was going to make a change, but he and Kolben convinced me otherwise," Lops said. "I'm glad they did. Between Kolben saying that TJ's stuff was nasty and TJ looking at me with confidence, I'm glad I didn't make the move."
Following the mound visit, Curley recorded his fourth strikeout, this one of Labrador, to retire the side.
After the Mainers struggled to do anything in the top of the ninth inning, which was a common theme as they recorded just three hits, all of which were singles, following the three-run second inning, Jackson Walsh (Wheaton) closed out the game.
Walsh along with Burgos and Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay) punctuated the win with a 4-6-3 double play to end the game and the losing skid.
"We needed that win," Lops said after the game. "I think we could still play a little bit smarter brand of baseball, but I was happy with the toughness the boys exhibited today."
Sanford looks to make it two in a row as it stays in Connecticut to face the Mystic Schooners on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
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 Sanford Mainers' Devan Bade celebrates win |
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