Mainers Strike Early in Win over Valley
July 1, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Maine - It was made interesting at the end, but the Sanford Mainers hung onto their early offensive outburst to best the Valley Blue Sox 9-5 on Saturday evening.
Two returners to Sanford got the offense started immediately in the bottom of the first inning as Kevin Skagerlind (UMass Amherst) and Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt) worked back-to-back free passes, the latter being a hit-by-pitch.
After the three-hole hitter Matt Polk (Vanderbilt) grounded out to third base, Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt) drove in the two baserunners with a single to right field and extended his hitting streak to double digits.
The Mainers stranded Poteet and Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech) on base to end the first home frame of the game allowing Ryan Dee (Binghamton) to head back to the mound after his 1-2-3 top of the first inning.
Dee ran into trouble in the second inning as he walked the first two batters he faced and after he got out number one, he allowed a single to Jeff Pierantoni (Yale) to load the pond.
The righty hurler got the two out of the inning with a fly ball to Hewett in center field. Hewett's throw home kept CJ Willis (Quinnipiac), the first of the two walked batsmen, stranded at third base. One batter later, Dee struck out Efrain Correa Jr. (Mount St. Mary's) to end the threat.
One frame later, the Sanford starter worked himself into more trouble as a leadoff single by Matt Garcia (Missouri), who was replaced by Eliot Dix (North Carolina) at first base on a fielder's choice, and another single by EJ Kreutzmann (Columbia) put Valley in scoring position.
Willis registered the third single of the inning off Dee, but Skagerlind in left field threw out Dix at the plate to keep a run off the board.
When the fourth rolled around, it was the third straight inning of trouble for the New Hampshire native on the rubber. After strong throws from his fellow outfielders the previous two innings kept runs off the board, Cody Bowker (Georgetown) got in on the action himself.
Correa Jr. singled in front of Bowker, but the two-way player for the Mainers faked out Pierantoni, who was standing on third base, before delivering a strike to Levi McAllister (UConn) to cut down another run.
Sean Scanlon (Holy Cross), who was Dee's counterpart on the bump, then ran into his own trouble in the bottom of that same inning.
It started as Devan Bade (Binghamton) extended his hit streak to five games before Jeremiah Jenkins (Maine) worked a base on balls and McAllister was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the green and yellow.
All three of them moved up a base, including Bade touching home plate, as Valley's own two way-play delivered a wild pitch to Bowker. In the same at-bat, Bowker reloaded the bases as he reached on an error by third baseman Zach Ketterman (Western Carolina).
The lineup turned over for the third time and the trio of Skagerlind, Hewett and Polk all delivered run-scoring hits. Skagerlind drove in Jenkins and McAllister on a single before Hewett drove in Bowker and Skagerlind on a double, and Polk finished the job with a single that plated Hewett.
Scanlon was replaced on the mound by Brendan Yagesh (Mount St. Mary's), who yielded a sacrifice fly to Eisert that scored the inherited runner in Polk. Scanlon, who came into the contest with a .69ERA, finished the day allowing nine runs, seven of which were earned, in just 3.1 innings.
After he bent but did not break in the first four innings, Dee allowed the Blue Sox to get on the scoreboard in the fifth as Will Gale (Seton Hall) drove in Dix after his leadoff walk. That was the only run that Dee yielded in his five innings of work as his four strikeouts and a strong defensive performance allowed him to work around eight hits.
That defensive effort, which through five innings did not result in an error, was not three to help Ryan Scott (Maine) when he entered in the sixth. Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) allowed Mason Wolf (Monmouth), who played for the Mainers earlier this summer, to get to second base on a throwing error and a later error by Jenkins allowed Wolf to score to cut the lead to 9-2.
The game went quiet until the ninth when Valley made it interesting as they loaded the bases before back-to-back singles by Michael Zarrillo (Lafayette) and Matt Bergevin (Fairfield) cut the deficit to five.
A groundout by Pierantoni drove in the fifth run for the Blue Sox, but Scott recorded the final out on a strikeout of Wolf with the bases loaded that gave the Mainers their second straight win.
Sanford, which now sits at 10-10 in 2023, has the day off tomorrow before returning to action against North Shore on Monday at Goodall Park.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 1, 2023
- Mainers Strike Early in Win over Valley - Sanford Mainers
- Offense Explodes for 24 Runs as Vermont Sweeps Keene in Doubleheader - Vermont Mountaineers
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