Mainers Navigate Basepaths on Record-Setting Night
July 19, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Jackson Tucker in action
(, Credit: Madison Giltner Photo)
SANFORD, Maine - For the second consecutive night, the Sanford Mainers rewrote the history books on the basepaths as they stole 11 bases en route to an 8-1 victory over the North Shore Navigators on Friday night at Goodall Park.
The Navigators scored their only run of the ballgame in the top of the third inning after Sanford stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the second.
Daniel MacDougall (Endicott) hit a one-out double to left field before a walk by Josh Kopetski (Rhode Island) got North Shore's left fielder to third base. MacDougall came around to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Jones (Stetson).
The Mainers, who entered play 4-11 on the year when their opponents scored first, did not take long to get that run back for their left-handed starter.
Caleb Shpur (UConn) and Jackson Tucker (St. John's), who switched spots atop the Mainers lineup from one night prior in North Adams, started the bottom of the third with back-to-back singles. Tucker stole the Mainers' first base of the night following his single as he made it two runners in scoring position for C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac).
"You could essentially flip a coin with those two guys and hit them first or second every night because of what they're capable of doing," manager Nic Lops said of Shpur and Tucker. "It sets the tone knowing that a single will likely turn into a double or maybe even a triple in the snap of a finger. That gives the middle of our lineup a chance to do damage, be clutch and drive in runs."
Although it was not the damage that the Mainers are used to seeing from Willis, his high chopper to third base could not be handled by Pat D'Amico (Seton Hall) allowing Shpur to score the tying run.
Tucker and Willis, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, were joined on base two batters later by Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) worked his 15th walk of the season to load the bases. A slow roller to shortstop by Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) turned into an infield single that scored Tucker.
But Sanford's center fielder was not the only runner to score as the throw from Reece Moroney (Rhode Island) on the infield single traveled into right field bringing Willis around to score. Schaaf followed Willis to the plate two batters later when Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay) hit a sacrifice fly following Matt Miceli's (Stony Brook) walk.
An inning later, the Mainers piled another pair of runs on the board as Tucker and Shpur led off the inning with back-to-back walks. The two combined to steal three bases in the inning allowing Shpur to score on a sacrifice fly and Tucker to score on a throwing error by Matt Chatelle (Rutgers) following his third stolen base of the game.
"We like to call it speeding up the game on opponents," Lops said of his team's running game. "When you go from a walk, then it turns into a triple almost automatically, it frustrates pitchers and gets them out of their rhythm. Catchers can get frustrated, and it can really just affect an entire baseball game."
Kopetski returned to the mound in the next half-inning with a five-run cushion as the Arundel, Maine native looked to put the finishing touches on his longest outing of the summer. The rising sophomore did just that as a flyout and pair of ground balls helped him work around a leadoff single by Ryan Gerety (Northeastern).
"Josh has been really consistent all summer for us," Lops said of Kopetski, who worked five innings of one-run baseball with three strikeouts. "He's made a couple of mistakes here and there, but he was the guy that we knew would set the tone early...They went with a really righty-heavy lineup, and I was impressed with how he handled them."
Kopetski handed the ball off to Conner Griffin (Binghamton), who continued Sanford's fourth consecutive game of allowing three earned runs or fewer. Griffin forced three groundouts in his first inning out of the bullpen since July 10.
After Griffin's scoreless sixth, the Mainers put another run on the board in the sixth inning as Shpur reached base for the third time via a walk. Shpur, who came into the day 11-11 in stolen bases, recorded his third and fourth swiped bags to put himself 90 feet away for Tucker.
Tucker grounded out to second base as Shpur sprinted home for Sanford's seventh run of the game.
Griffin struck out three straight Navigators after a leadoff walk in the seventh before Schaaf worked a leadoff walk in the home portion of the third. Schaaf stole both second and third, and on his steal of third base Chatelle threw another ball that got into the outfield allowing Schaaf to come around to score.
Miceli worked his second walk of the two batters after Schaaf. With Hernandez at the plate, Miceli slid successfully into second base for Sanford's ninth stolen base of the game. Miceli's stolen base was Sanford's 101st of the season, tying the Mainers' all-time single-season team record for stolen bases set in 2003.
That number advanced to 102 and then 103 in the bottom of the eighth inning as Tucker stole second and third after his one-out single. The Mainers lead the NECBL with 103 stolen bases and have eight games to beat the NECBL record of 125 set by the 2021 Upper Valley Nighthawks.
After Tucker was stranded on third to end the eighth, Connor Toriello (Salve Regina) got the final three outs for Sanford in the ninth to close out the 8-1 victory, Sanford's fourth straight.
"This game is a lot more fun and a lot easier to see success in when you play the game having fun and you play the game hard," Lops said of his team's winning streak.
The Mainers return to action on Saturday against the Newport Gulls at Goodall Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Jackson Tucker in action (Madison Giltner Photo) |
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