Mainers Steer Clear of 'Neers, Advance to NECBL Championship
August 6, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Maine - For the first time since 2016 and the fifth time in organization history, the Sanford Mainers will play for the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup after sweeping the Vermont Mountaineers on Monday evening at Goodall Park.
"The stakes are certainly higher than they've ever been," manager Nic Lops said of his team's unfinished business. "The message is not going to change one bit. One inning at a time, one batter at a time, and one pitch at a time."
Before getting to Monday's originally scheduled contest at 6:30 p.m., the Mainers and Mountaineers finished the final 18 outs from Sunday night's suspended contest. The Mainers, who led 7-4 coming into Monday, won the game as the score did not move from when it picked back up in the seventh inning.
Max Brulport (Stonehill) and Jackson Walsh (Wheaton) combined to shut down both offenses with Walsh holding the upper hand with three perfect innings on the bump. Brulport, who matched Walsh with three scoreless frames, allowed hits to Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt) and Evin Sullivan (Binghamton) but managed around them.
Following the final out, a popout by Tyler Ganus (Northwestern) that found Ray Velazquez's (Vanderbilt) glove, the two teams returned to the surface of Goodall Park approximately an hour later to begin the second game of the series.
Ganus, who made the final out of the first game, doubled off Clay Robbins (Southern Maine) to begin the nightcap for Vermont. Ganus advanced to third on a groundout by Joshiah Ragsdale (Boston College), but was stranded there as Robbins struck out Brennan Hyde (Rutgers) and D.M. Jefferson (Notre Dame) to end the first.
Sanford stranded Jackson Tucker (St. John's) on third base in the home portion of the opening frame as the two teams combined to strand six runners on base over the first three innings. In the fourth, however, the offense began to bring the runners around.
Hyde and Jefferson hit back-to-back singles with no outs in the top of the fourth off Robbins. After a stolen base put Jefferson on second base, Robbins struck out Tyler Cox (Dartmouth) and forced Johnny Knox (Quinnipiac) to pop out.
Andrew Mannelly (Wofford) came to the plate with two outs and two runners on base against Robbins. Neither of the two would give in as the count ran to 1-2 with two additional foul balls after the second strike. Those two foul balls temporarily ended the battle as the game was put into a rain delay.
65 minutes later, Daniel McAliney (Binghamton) took over for Robbins in the at-bat. McAliney delivered two balls to make the count go full before Mannelly drove home both runners with a double to left-center field.
McAliney struck out Casey Bishop (Towson) to end the inning, bringing Sanford to the plate against Derek Benzinger (Monmouth). Benzinger forced Devan Bade (Binghamton) into a groundout before Sullivan hit the next pitch for a double. On the very next pitch, Velazquez brought Sullivan around to score on a single to right field.
"We didn't tie it that inning, but the very next inning we did," manager Lops said of the home portion of the fourth. "All we did was chip away one by one."
Lops' team tied the ballgame in the fifth inning after Tucker reached base with one out in the inning. Tucker, who was on base for the third time in the contest, put himself into scoring position with a stolen base before advancing to third on a groundout by C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac).
Barczi, who had an RBI in the first game, came through with his 7th RBI of the postseason, on a 106-mile-per-hour double to left-center field.
"He's just a baseball player, plain and simple," Lops said of the All-Star catcher. "He's a dang good one. His leadership, his professionalism, he's so mature for his age and he handles the game like a pro."
Two innings later, Barczi drove home the eventual game-winning run, but not before Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) and Caleb Shpur (UConn) combined for the third run on the board for Sanford.
Davis led off the inning with a hustle double that looked like a single out of the box.
"I'm standing in the third base box saying, 'one's good,'" Lops said of Davis's double. "At that point, it's a tie game, but he had other ideas. I'm glad he didn't listen to me on that one because speed kills and you can't teach that. For him to hustle like that, I know his teammates really appreciated that and were fired up."
Davis did not stand on second for too long as Shpur put a ball on the ground to the left side. That ball snuck by the diving attempt of Cox at shortstop, allowing Davis to score to put Sanford ahead 3-2.
Following a pitching change, a strikeout and a Willis single, Barczi came to the plate looking for more. Although the Illinois native did not record a hit, he grounded a ball 97 miles per hour that bounced through the legs of Cox at shortstop, giving way to Shpur coming around to home plate for a fourth run.
"Caleb is another guy like Barczi that's just very professional," Lops said of Shpur, who hustled his way around the base paths after his go-ahead hit. "How he goes about his business is fun. He's a fun player to coach, fun player to watch."
Two batters after Barczi reached base on the error, he came around to score as Sullivan delivered his second hit of the night and third of the day. Sullivan's hit ended the line of scoring for the Mainers at five runs.
Vermont got one of those runs back on a one-out double by Knox in the top of the eighth, but Beau Brailey (Alabama) battled through traffic in the eighth and ninth to secure the win for Sanford. Brailey's final pitch of the night was popped up to third base, where Bade, the third-year Mainer and captain of the 2024 team, punctuated the victory with a catch.
"Devan is a guy whose corner I'll be in until the day I die," Lops said of Bade. "He wants this more than anyone, and it shows in the way he competes. The way he wants the baseball, his personality and his style are all so infectious. There's no better captain I'd rather have lead this group."
Lops, Bade and the rest of the 2024 Mainers will compete against the Newport Gulls for the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup. First pitch of the best-of-three series is scheduled for Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. from Cardines Field in Newport, Rhode Island.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 6, 2024
- Mainers, Gulls Battle for the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup Championship - NECBL
- Mainers, Gulls Set for Fourth Meeting in Championship - Sanford Mainers
- Mainers Steer Clear of 'Neers, Advance to NECBL Championship - Sanford Mainers
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