Mainers on Right Side of Rainy Day Blues
July 16, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Bijan Anva on the mound
(, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
SANFORD, Maine - Three-and-a-half weeks after the rain ended a four-game winning streak and sent the Sanford Mainers on a 6-11 stretch, the rain poured down in the middle of the sixth inning on Tuesday night at Goodall Park securing the Mainers a 2-0 win over the Bristol Blues.
After Bijan Anvar (Franklin & Marshall) traded zeroes with Michael Lorenzetti (Iona) in the first three half-innings, the Mainers got on the board first off Bristol's right-handed pitcher.
A leadoff walk to C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac) set the tone for the first three Sanford hitters of the inning to reach base. Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) reached on a single to right field before Evin Sullivan (Binghamton) delivered the run-scoring knock in the inning.
"He's been a great addition," manager Nic Lops said of Sullivan, who joined the Mainers one week prior. "He's blended right in. He's part of the family already."
Sullivan's single also traveled to Anton Lazits (Columbia) in right field and was his third hit of the summer. With Willis coming home to score, the Pennsylvania native in Sullivan recorded his sixth RBI in just his fourth game of the summer.
Anvar worked around an error by Devan Bade (Binghamton) in the top of the third inning. The right-handed pitcher, who saw Bade's error yield Bristol's first baserunner of the contest, struck out Vincent Bianchina (Northwestern) before getting Jordan Peyton (Towson) to pop out to end the frame.
"The first three innings were dynamite," Lops said of Anvar's second start of the summer. "29 pitches in three innings, that was exceptional work. He was really trusting his defense and his defense was making the plays for him."
Following Anvar's third scoreless frame of the ballgame, the Mainers bats added a run to Anvar's cushion.
Caleb Shpur (UConn) kept the inning alive with a two-out, two-base hit that put him in scoring position for Bade. Despite falling behind in the count, Bade delivered an RBI single, which marked the 20th time this season that the third-year Mainer drove in a run for Sanford.
"That's been a focus of ours," Lops said of continuing the team supporting one another. "We had everybody in the dugout. That was a big focus of our talk after the tough game at Vermont the other night."
In the next half-inning, Easton Brenner (Lafayette) led off with a double of his own before Anvar worked back with a strikeout of Dean O'Neill (Maine). The next plate appearance resulted in a walk of Lazits to put two runners on base against Anvar for the first time in the game.
Sanford's New York native on the mound forced Dean Ferrara (Fairfield) to fly out to left field before issuing a free pass to Mika Petersen (Brown) as the bases became loaded. With a runner off every base, Anvar struck out Beck Milner (Boston College) to end the threat.
Lorenzetti rebounded after allowing two runs over the second and third innings by settling into a rhythm that saw him retire the Mainers in order in both the fourth and fifth frames.
Sanford led 2-0 after the fifth inning, which became important rather quickly as a line of thunderstorms moved over Goodall Park.
The Blues found the scoreboard in the top of the sixth inning with an RBI double by Petersen and an RBI single by Skye Selinsky (Columbia). As the Mainers attempted to put themselves back in the lead in the bottom of the sixth, a lightning strike sent the game into delay.
Moments after the tarp was put onto the field, the skies opened and eventually forced the game to be finished. By rule, the score reverts to that of the last finished inning giving the Mainers a 2-0 shutout win.
"The biggest thing I want from these guys the rest of the way is to come together and be a real team," Lops said of the 2024 Sanford Mainers after their 16th win. "I want everyone to have each other's backs. I think what we saw tonight was the beginning of that and that's how we're going to keep trending."
Sanford returns to action tomorrow in a matchup against the Upper Valley Nighthawks. First pitch from Goodall Park is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Bijan Anva on the mound (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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