O'Grady Sets Stolen Base Record in Vermont Loss

July 28, 2011 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release


Laconia, NH - Damien Magnifico took a no-hitter into the sixth and Vermont rallied for three runs in the ninth but it wasn't enough as they fell 6-5 to the Laconia Muskrats in New England Collegiate Baseball League action on Thursday night.

Vermont would see history early though as Brian O'Grady began the game with a walk and stole his league leading 23rd base of the season. With the steal, O'Grady (Warminster, PA/Rutgers) became the franchises single season stolen base leader surpassing Beau McMillan's 22 in the inaugural year of 2003.

Laconia's offense seemed to take advantage of the struggles from starter Cody Ege as they put runners on base in every inning except the fifth. The Muskrats would score first in the third inning when shortstop Dan Kemp bobbled a ball trying to turn a double play that would have ended the inning. Will Johnson scored on the play to put the host team up 1-0.

Doug Freeman would get the second out of the inning throwing out John Ziznewski trying to steal third. A Chris Constantino single put two runners on before Bijan Rademacher hit a massive three run homerun to put the Muskrats up 4-0. Ege would get the next batter to pop out on one pitch to end the inning giving up the four unearned runs.

One more run would get tacked on in the home half of the fourth when Kendall Keeton hit an RBI triple to give Laconia a 5-0 advantage. Anthony Marzi would then replace Ege and get two consecutive strikeouts to end the inning.

Magnifico worked in and out of trouble throughout, retiring eight in a row at one point. His lone mistake would come in the top of the sixth when Tyler Young worked a one out walk before Rob Kelly broke up the no-no and the shutout with a two-run shot of his own. For Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA/Saint Anslem) it was his fourth long ball of the year and marked the third time the Mountaineers have broken up a no-hit bid with a homerun.

Laconia would add one more insurance run in the seventh when Constantino singled home Ziznewski to make the score 6-2. Then, in the top of the ninth, Rolando Gautier led off with a double followed two batters later by John Hotta's single to out two on with one out. O'Grady would then hit his first homer of the year bringing the Mountaineers to within one at 6-5. Closer William Prince would retire Johnny Mishu and Ty Young on strikeouts to preserve the win.

Magnifico would finish the day throwing six strong giving up those two runs on one hit while striking out four to take the win. Ege is saddled with the loss giving up five runs, one earned, on five hits walking two in his inning and a third.

Vermont (23-15) finishes their regular season road schedule tomorrow Friday July 29th, as they travel to Keene, New Hampshire to take on the Swamp Bats at Alumni Field for a 6:30 start. You can hear all the action live on ESPN 1240, WSKI and online at www.thevermontmountaineers.com.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 28, 2011


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