Minckler, Curley and Mainers Flush out SwampBats
July 1, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Maine - Both the unofficial and official starts of the second half arrived at Goodall Park on Monday evening as the Sanford Mainers began the month of July with a 3-2 victory over the Keene SwampBats in their 23rd game of the 2024 campaign.
The Mainers ended the first half of their season with a win in the nightcap of a doubleheader against Bristol on Saturday night. The offense, which had hit .188 over the previous eight games with a .262 on-base percentage, recorded nine hits and nine walks in a five-run effort in that win.
After Ryan Minckler (Arizona State) worked a three-up, three-down inning in the top of the first, the Mainers kept their offensive momentum going with a three-hit, one-walk inning against Keene's Ryan Van Buren (Maryland).
C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac), Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt) and Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) all found ways on base with one out, although a caught stealing sent Willis back to the dugout. With Barczi and Velazquez occupying the corners, Devan Bade (Binghamton) singled to score Barczi for the opening run in the contest.
"Even Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) in the first at-bat of the game, made hard contact on the liner. I think that kind of helped the guys breathe easy behind him," manager Nic Lops said of his team's early offensive success. "Willis stayed hot with his single, Barczi got the job done, Velazquez worked that walk and Bade came up clutch as our captain. It was huge."
That one run stood for Sanford into the sixth inning as Minckler dominated the SwampBats. The right-handed thrower brought a no-hitter into the sixth inning after lasting just three innings and taking the loss against Newport one week prior.
"I think in Newport he tried a little too hard if that's such a thing," Lops said of Minckler, who announced his commitment to Arizona State via social media on Sunday. "Rather than executing his locations and pitches, he was overthrowing a little bit. Proud of him for putting that in the rearview and bouncing back to get a home win tonight."
J.D. Jones (Rutgers) broke up Mincker's no-hitter with a double down the right-field line to kick off the sixth inning. Two pitches later, Jake Koonin (Princeton) doubled the hit total from one to two with a single that put runners on the corners with no outs.
Minckler bounced back with strikeouts of Ripken Reese (Kent State) and Josh Kross (Cincinnati) before facing Nick Romano (Florida Atlantic). Romano, who was one of two baserunners to reach against Minckler before the sixth inning, singled to bring home both Jones and Koonin to give Keene the 2-1 lead.
The New Hampshire native on the mound bounced back with a strikeout of Alex Calarco (Maryland) to end the sixth inning. That strikeout proved to be the end of the night for Minckler, who left in line for a loss after six innings of eight-strikeout, three-hit and two-run baseball.
"Ryan Minckler did a tremendous job," Lops said. "I'm happy for him for his recent commitment to ASU, but that was a stressful process. Tonight, he had a clear mind, he was focused, and he was doing his job one by one by one tonight."
T.J. Curley (Stonehill) replaced Minckler on the mound in the sixth and continued the success of the Mainers' pitching staff that came into the day with a 3.66 ERA, which led the NECBL. Curley bookended his first inning of work with strikeouts of Andrew Wiggins (Indiana) and Jones.
The strikeout of Jones, which ended the inning, brought Sanford back to the plate looking to score for the first time since the first inning.
Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) worked a one-out walk in an eight-pitch plate appearance against John Gunter (Wake Forest). Gunther, who had previously worked three innings and recorded seven strikeouts against the Mainers, then balked to move Lanowitz into scoring position.
A pitch in the dirt during Matt Miceli's (Stony Brook) at-bat was blocked by Jones behind the plate. That ball squirted away from Jones just enough for Lanowitz to advance to third base on what was ruled a wild pitch.
"The dirtball read by Corbin Lanowitz was the play of the night," Lops said. "Him getting those extra 90 feet allowed him to score on that ball that the right fielder almost caught."
That ball to right field was hit by Miceli and tied the game at 2-2.
"Quality at-bats are something in our program that we like to quantify," Lops said. "Miceli had himself a 3-for-3 night in terms of quality at-bats. The quality at-bats don't always show themselves in the box score, but that was certainly a huge swing."
Miceli advanced to second base on a wild pitch before coming around to score on a run-scoring single by Willis. Willis skied a ball into center field that was lost off the bat by Wiggins and dropped onto the outfield grass for the Massachusetts native's third hit of the contest.
Curley worked a scoreless eighth before returning for a third inning of work out of the bullpen in the ninth. After a flyout started the inning, Calarco reached base on a throwing error by Bade.
The hometown kid in Curley got Wiggins to ground out to second base before striking out Christian Mitchelle (Cincinnati) on three pitches to end the game.
"It was an easy choice but tough choice at the same time," Lops said of the decision to keep the Sanford native in the ballgame. "Sometimes a guy has a good inning or two and you want to leave it there and go on to the next guy. There was something about him in Goodall tonight, we stuck with him for nine outs."
The Mainers head on the road to face the Upper Valley Nighthawks on Tuesday night. First pitch from the Maxfield Sports Complex is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 1, 2024
- Minckler, Curley and Mainers Flush out SwampBats - Sanford Mainers
- Vermont Gets Back in the Win Column with 4-3 Thriller over Mystic - Vermont Mountaineers
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