Mainers' Offense Shows Late Signs in Loss to Schooners
June 6, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Jack Toomey and Devan Kodali on game night
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SANFORD, Maine. - For the second consecutive night, it was too late and too late for the Sanford Mainers as the offense struggled to get going in a 5-4 loss in their home opener against Mystic on Thursday evening.
After two scoreless frames from Clay Robbins (Southern Maine), which included two swinging strikeouts to end the second inning, the Mainers offense got on the board first in the bottom of the second inning.
Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) led off the home portion of the second with a single off Mystic's starting pitcher Trystan Levesque (Rhode Island). Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) followed Toomey with a hit-by-pitch to put two runners on base with no outs.
One night after going 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position, Matt Travisano (UMass Amherst) went down on strikes as it seemed like the woes would continue. The next hitter, Nathan Barksdale (Austin Peay) then delivered a single that scored Toomey from second base and gave the Mainers the first lead of the evening.
Sanford stranded two runners on base, one of which was in scoring position, to end any further threat.
Working with a lead, Robbins returned to the bump in the third and worked around a one-out double to keep the Mainers lead intact. The Maine native quickly returned to the mound for the top of the fourth after a 1-2-3 inning from his offense and this time he ran into trouble.
After hitting JuJu Stevens (Missouri) with a pitch, Robbins allowed a single to Erik Paulsen (Stony Brook). Stevens, who stole second base during the at-bat, headed towards home plate, but a throw from Barksdale and a tag from Keaton Cottam (Austin Peay) kept Mystic off the board for the time being.
Robbins struck out Jack Goodman (Northeastern), but when facing Goodman's collegiate teammate an opposite result ensued for the lefty on the hill. Robbins yielded a two-run home run to Matthew Brinker (Northeastern) giving Mystic the one-run advantage going into the bottom of the fourth.
That lead did not even get past the first batter of the bottom of the fourth though as Toomey, the second-year Mainer, hit an opposite-field home run to tie the score at two.
After two scoreless frames on both sides, Mystic used a leadoff single by Goodman and a hit-by-pitch of Brinker to put pressure on Daniel McAliney (Binghamton), who took over for Robbins after five innings of four-hit, two-run baseball.
McAliney bounced back with two strikeouts of the swinging variety against Marc Willi (UMass Amherst) and Luke Sefcik (Cincinnati). The 6-foot-4, right-handed pitcher could not finish the inning though as Scotty Young (Rutgers) doubled just inside the third base bag that scored Goodman and Brinker to give the visitors a 4-2 lead.
After Zack Donahue (Marist) worked a walk, Josh Kopetski (Rhode Island) took over on the bound and finished the inning without allowing anyone else to come around to score.
The Mainers and Schooners traded scoreless frames in the bottom of the seventh and top of the eighth bringing the Mainers up in the top of the eight trailing by two.
Devan Bade (Binghamton) started the bottom of the penultimate inning with a single that left that bat at 95 miles per hour. Bade stayed stranded at first until three batters later when Travisano and Barksdale were hit by pitchers to load the bases.
Nic Lops went to his bench for CJ Willis (Quinnipiac) with the bases loaded and two outs. Willis managed a run-scoring walk against Jacob Young (Brown) to cut the deficit to one, but a hard-hit line drive by Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) was caught by Stevens to end any further threat.
Nick Solorzano (Stony Brook) worked a walk in his pinch-hitting opportunity before a sacrifice bunt and an error allowed him to come around to score to inflate the lead back to two runs.
One night after scoring three runs in the top of the ninth in a losing effort against Valley, Sanford did not go away easily in the ninth.
Devan Kodali (Vanderbilt) worked a one-out walk before Bade recorded his second hit of the night to put two runners on the bases for Toomey. The Holy Cross Crusader delivered a single to left field that scored Kodali and closed the deficit to just one.
Young found another gear to strike out Lanowitz and force a popout of Travisano to end the first rematch of the first round of the 2023 NECBL Postseason.
Sanford looks to break their two-game losing streak as they stay put at Goodall Park tomorrow to host the Upper Valley Nighthawks.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Jack Toomey and Devan Kodali on game night |
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