Mainers Sock Their Way Past Valley
July 26, 2022 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Me - And they're into the stretch.
With one week left in the season, the Mainers inched closer to the playoffs with their dominating win over the Valley Blue Sox, 12-1. Despite falling behind early, the Moose never took their foot off the gas and scored 12 unanswered runs.
The Blue Sox struck first in the opening frame as Chase Hanson (Hope International) singled and scored AJ Guerrero (Eastern Illinois), 1-0.
Sanford tied the game in the bottom half of the first. Great base running by Quinn McDaniel (Maine), a stolen base and advancing on a throwing error put him at third. Then Aidan Kane (Delaware) drove in his teammate, 1-1.
In the third, the Mainers landed the first big punch, as Jake Rainess (Maine) brought in McDaniel and Kane on his single to right-center. The shortstop eventually came into score on the sacrifice fly from Devan Bade (Binghamton), 4-1.
Jumping ahead to the sixth, the Moose put up two more runs. First, Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt) hit a sac fly to left that allowed Bade to tag up and score. Later, Kane got another RBI on his infield single that drove in Kevin Skagerlind (UMass), 6-1.
Finally, in the seventh and the eighth, Sanford landed the knockout blow with back-to-back three-run innings.
During the seventh, Jayson Kramer (Mount St. Mary's) drove in David Bermudez (Manhattan). Hewett followed up Kramer with a two-RBI single, scoring Bade and Skagerlind, 9-1.
Skagerlind drove in AJ Cook (Elms) on a groundout to third in the eighth. Then a pair of dropped third strikes that got past the catcher allowed Bade and MJ Lucas (UNC-Asheville) to score, 12-1.
While the offense had their best output of the season, the pitchers kept the Blue Sox hitters off-balance the entire night.
Matthew Sapienza (Georgetown) had his second consecutive stellar start, with the lone blemish coming in the first inning. The right-hander went six innings while striking out six batters.
Jake Poindexter (Georgia) and Zackary Given (UMass) finished out the final three innings, as the pair combined for four strikeouts.
With a win, Sanford has won three straight and pulls ever closer to Ocean State, who holds the final wild-card spot by just half a game. The green and yellow have a game in hand compared to the Waves.
The Mainers will have a much-needed day of rest before returning to Goodall for a date with Winnipesaukee. Jack Mullen (Bowdoin) will be on the mound for the seventh and final meeting between the two, with the season series tied at three.
The Muskrats came from behind to win the last meeting, 10-9.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 26, 2022
- Vermont Suffers Fifth Straight Loss. - Vermont Mountaineers
- Mainers Sock Their Way Past Valley - Sanford Mainers
- The NECBL Daily Rundown - 7/25/22 - Winnipesaukee, Upper Valley Twirl Shutouts - NECBL
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