
Mountaineers Open with a Win
June 7, 2019 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release
MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Vermont Mountaineers baseball team kicked off the 2019 New England Collegiate Baseball League season with a resounding 7-1 victory over the Upper Valley Nighthawks.
Christian Scafidi (Clementon, N.J. / University of Pennsylvania) picked up the win for the Mountaineers, only giving up two hits while not allowing the Nighthawks a single run throughout the first five innings of play. The Mountaineers capitalized on miscues by the Nighthawks defense and also timely hitting.
Straton Podaras (Glen Head, N.Y. / Radford University) collected the first score of the season for the Mountaineers in the bottom of the second, after Austin Gauthier (Lorton, Va. / Hofstra University) walked on loaded bases. The offensive output continued after a wild pitch by Upper Valley pitcher Cal Carver resulted in a Matt McDermott (Little Falls, N.J. / College of William and Mary) score.
The third frame provided no delay to the Mountaineers offensive firepower, kicked off by a Podaras double to left field. After advancing to third on a wild pitch, Podaras scored his second run of the game when Carver threw an errant ball to first base on a pick-off attempt, but instead tipped off the glove of Anthony Quirion, allowing Evan Giordano (Sewell, N.J. / Stony Brook) to advance all the way to third. McDermott followed up with a groundout to second, pushing Giordano across the plate to make it 4-0.
The Mountaineers defense proved stout after their offensive eruption, set off by an impressive double play to end the top of the top of the fourth. Dan Bolt drove a ball to left field that was caught by Corey DiLoreto (Reading, Mass. / Northeastern University), who whipped a perfect throw to Podaras at home who tagged a streaking Gregory Hardison at the plate to end the threat.
The dominance continued for the home team in the fifth, with Vermont continuously flirting with loaded bases and successfully managing to drive home three runs by Connor Charping (Trenton, Mich. / Western Michigan University), Giordano and Brian Goulard (City, N.Y. / Hofstra University).
The bats cooled off the rest of the night for the Mountaineers while their defense remained hot, allowing just one run in the top of the ninth after David Marcano scored for the Nighthawks.
With the win, the Mountaineers move to 1-0 on the young season, and will continue their four-game homestand with a 6:30 p.m. showdown on Sunday against the Danbury Westerners.
You can listen all season long on the NECBL Broadcast Network.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 7, 2019
- Pitching Powers Mainers to Home-Opener Victory - Sanford Mainers
- Westerners Offense Overpowers the Bay Sox - New Bedford Bay Sox
- Mountaineers Open with a Win - Vermont Mountaineers
- Sixteen Gulls Selected in the 2019 MLB Draft - Newport Gulls
- Bay Sox Fall to Ocean State - New Bedford Bay Sox
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