Mainers Swept on Final Day of Regular Season
July 30, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
=BRISTOL, CONN. - It is said that the third time is the charm, but for the Sanford Mainers that was not the case on two separate occasions at Muzzy Field on Sunday afternoon.
The first of those two times was in the final three innings of a suspended contest against the North Adams Steeplecats, which had been suspended on two separate nights. North Adams came into the third different day the game was played leading 2-1.
All three of those runs had come in day two of the contest, which came on July 25, after the start of the game saw just three pitches on July 21. Hudson Polk (Arkansas Fayetteville) opened the scoring on a wild pitch by Bryce Afthim (Southern Maine) and DM Jefferson (Notre Dame) followed for the second run on a Cedric Rose (UMass Lowell) sacrifice fly.
Both of those runs came to the plate in the top of the second, but just two innings later Levi McAllister (Albany) drove home Cam Johnson (UNC Asheville) on a sacrifice fly of his own.
The game was suspended in the next half inning and five days later, the SteepleCats tripled their one run lead. In the top of the sixth inning, the second inning to be played on Sunday, Polk brought home Sam Tackett (Virginia Tech), who reached on an error, to make the score 2-1.
Two batters later, Aiden Stewart (Delaware) drove home Polk with a RBI single of his own to make it 4-1.
That score stood as the Mainers only had one base runner reach in the final three innings played on Sunday, which came in the way of a single by Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech). That hit came in the sixth inning before the Mainers went 1-2-3 in the seventh, which allowed Vermont to clinch the North Division.
Three innings of no runs on Sunday extended to ten as in the Mainers third and final regular season meeting of the season with Bristol resulted in a 5-0 win in favor of the Blues.
Three of the five runs for the Blues came in the bottom of the first inning against Michael Simes (UMass Lowell).
Griffin Arnone (Northwestern) led off the home lineup with a single and after a stolen base, he came around to score when Connor Goodman (Maine) delivered a single of his own to make it 1-0.
A couple of at-bats later, Cal Parillo (Rhode Island College) hit the third single of the inning, which brought Goodman home to score to double the Blues lead. Parillo was erased on a fielder's choice two batters later, but the hitter directly after him, Joey Rios (Central Connecticut State), singled and came around to score later on a base hit off the bat of Owen Podolec (Assumption College).
Ian Battipaglia (Franklin Pierce) came to the plate on a delayed double steal attempt with Darius Troche (West Chester). Battipaglia's run was the fourth for the Blues all while the Mainers still had not cracked the run column.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, a leadoff walk by Skye Selinsky (Columbia) was followed by a stolen base then a Battipaglia single that made it 5-0, which stayed put as the final score.
Sanford kicks off a best-of-three series with the Mystic Schooners tomorrow at Dodd Stadium beginning at 6:00 p.m. The winner of the series advances to the second round of the 2023 New England League Postseason.=
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 30, 2023
- Mainers Swept on Final Day of Regular Season - Sanford Mainers
- Vermont Wraps up Regular Season with 3-1 Win over Upper Valley; Take Governor's Cup Series for Second-Straight Year - Vermont Mountaineers
- Eight-Team Bracket Set for 2023 NECBL Playoffs - NECBL
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