Mountaineers Bats Awaken, Defeat Keene 5-3

Published on July 5, 2011 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release


Montpelier, VT - The Vermont Mountaineers tied their season high for hits in a game with 11 as their offense put up five runs defeating the Keene Swamp Bats 5-3 in New England Collegiate Baseball League action on Tuesday night. The win snapped a brief two game losing streak for the Mountaineers while also snapping Keene's three game win streak.

Ryan Fasano (Stony Point, NY/Rutgers) pitched six solid innings giving up just runs on five hits while striking out three and walking one in his third start of the season. His defense also kept him in the game keeping the Swamp Bats off the board until the sixth inning. Vermont would strike first in the third inning which led off with two straight one-out singles from Tyler Young and Rob Griffith off starting pitcher Tyler Skulina. Then, designated hitter Rob Kelly hit a ball to second base that looked to be an easy double play ball. Instead, Derek Toadvine's flip to the shortstop missed everything going into left field. The error allowed Young (Coatesville, PA/Louisville) to score and advance Griffith to third.

On the very next pitch, Greg Bachman (Germantown, TN/Austin Peay) hit a hard chopper to shortstop Alex Chittenden that got lodged in his jersey allowing Griffith to score and everyone to be safe what was ruled an infield single. Rolando Gautier would then hit an RBI double to score Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Saint Anslem) and advance Bachman to third where he would be picked off on a failed squeeze attempt at the plate.

The Mountaineers would add another run in the fifth on Dan Kemp's RBI double. Kemp (Sturbridge, MA/Franklin Pierce) had not gotten a hit since opening night against Skulina, and went two for three against him snapping a ten game hitless streak. The team would take a 4-0 lead into the top of the sixth inning.

In that inning, Fasano would make his only mistake of the night walking Esteban Gomez to lead things off and then giving up a two run homer to Kevin Brown with one out. He would then get an inning ending double to play to finish off his outing. Spencer Jackson and Liam Rafferty would pitch perfect seventh and eighth innings for the Mountaineers who would score another run on Brian O'Grady's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.

Kyle Grana would come on to pitch the ninth and after getting the first two outs of the inning and forcing Colby May to a full count, May hit a towering solo homer to cut the deficit to 5-3 and keep the inning alive. Grana (Louisville, KY/Bellarmine) got Michael Burruss to pop out to end the game.

Fasano (1-1) picks up his first win in five appearances while Skulina (1-1) gets saddled with his first loss giving up five runs, four earned, on ten hits striking out three and not allowing a walk. Grana picks up his fourth save of the season in the ninth.

Vermont (9-8) finishes up their five game homestead tomorrow on Wednesday July, 6th as they host the North Adams Steeplecats (8-14) at 6:30 p.m. at Montpelier Recreation Field. You can hear all the action live on ESPN 1240, WSKI and online at www.thevermontmountaineers.com.

Game Notes: Rob Griffith went 2-4 tonight extending his on-base streak to nine games...Ty Young went 1-4 on the night extending his on-base streak to six straight games with hits in each of his last four...Brian O'Grady reached on a fielder's choice in the second inning to extend his on-base streak to six straight games. He has reached in all but one of the twelve games he has played this season.

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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 5, 2011


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