Pitching Bounces Back to Propel Mainers to Shutout Win
July 12, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
SANFORD, Maine - One day after the Sanford Mainers pitching staff allowed 17 runs in 13 innings of work as they were swept in a doubleheader, three pitchers combined to keep the Upper Valley Nighthawks scoreless in a 2-0 victory on Wednesday night.
The first of the three pitchers was Cody Bowker (Georgetown), who would run into some trouble immediately.
Bowker allowed back-to-back singles to Adarius Myers (Louisiana Tech) and Ryan Cesarini (St. Joseph's) to open the game. The two-way player managed his way around trouble with a harmless pop out to second base and a swinging strikeout before his batterymate Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt) threw out Cesarini, who was trying to steal second base.
In his second inning of work, Bowker worked into more trouble as he issued two one-out walks, one to Nick Monistere (Southern Mississippi) and one to Kory Klingenbeck (Cincinnati), while in between the free passes he allowed Pat D'Amico (Seton Hall) to reach on a single.
Tyler Long (Mount St. Mary's) came to the plate with the bases loaded and Bowker got just what the doctor ordered as he forced Long to bounce into an inning ending 6-4-3 double play.
With Upper Valley putting runners on in seemingly every inning, the Mainers bats followed suit with two scoring opportunities in the second and third innings.
Nick Roselli (Binghamton) opened the home portion of the second inning with a four-pitch walk, the first of three he was issued in the ballgame, and Devin Russell (Maryland) followed him with a single.
Roselli advanced to third on the first of a couple of balls in the dirt in the inning. With runners on the corners and nobody out, a combination of two flyouts and a caught stealing of Russell, who tried to advance on another ball that squeaked away from the catcher, ended the threat.
Sanford saw itself put runners on first and third again an inning later, but a groundout by Poteet ended that threat.
Bowker struck out D'Amico and Klingenbeck to end the fourth inning and effectively end his night. In his fourth start of the summer, the Bowdoinham, Maine native lowered his ERA to 1.42 as he allowed five hits and two walks while striking out four hitters.
Nick Thompson (Colby College) replaced Bowker on the bump and the early returns showed that to be the right decision for Nic Lops.
Thompson worked a 1-2-3 inning in his first frame out of the pen, which included a strikeout of Long. In his second inning of work, the Scarborough, Maine native allowed two singles, one of which was erased as Kevin Skagerlind (UMass Amherst) threw out Garret Pike (Toledo) as he tried to stretch his into a double, but worked around them to throw another scoreless inning.
Before Thompson returned for his third inning on the rubber, the Mainers offense put a run across home plate for the first time since the second inning of the nightcap of the doubleheader the day before.
Devan Bade (Binghamton) started the bottom of the sixth against Russell Hunter (Hofstra), who had come into the game one inning prior in relief of Hunter Reynolds (Franklin Pierce). Bade recorded his second hit of the night and quickly advanced to third on a double by Poteet, which put two runners in scoring position with no outs.
A wild pitch during Roselli's third four-pitch walk of the contest allowed for Bade to step on home plate for the first run of the game. That run also proved to be the only run of the inning as the green and yellow did not get anything else going despite still having two runners on with no outs.
Thompson ended his night after a scoreless seventh inning as he exited with a chance for his third victory of the season after he allowed just three baserunners and added a strikeout.
In the seventh, the Moose made it consecutive innings in which they brought runs around to the plate as Luis Misla (Cortland) issued a walk to the first batter he saw out of the bullpen in Matt Miceli (Stony Brook).
A single by Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech) and sacrifice bunt by Skagerlind got Miceli to third base for Matt Polk (Vanderbilt). Polk flew out to right field, but his fellow second-year Mainer, Bade, made up for it with an RBI single to double the lead to 2-0.
That score held on the rest of the way Jake Poindexter (Lipscomb), who is also in his second season in a green and yellow uniform, became the third arm out of the bullpen for Lops. Poindexter worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning before registering the first two outs of the top of the ninth.
With two-outs in the ninth, D'Amico singled to keep the game alive, but with Klingenbeck up to the plate, pinch runner Austin Beck (Angelo State) was thrown out by Poteet on a steal attempt that sealed the deal for the Mainers.
Sanford leaves Goodall Park after just one home game as it heads to MacKenzie Stadium to face the Valley Blue Sox in a game that will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 12, 2023
- Pitching Bounces Back to Propel Mainers to Shutout Win - Sanford Mainers
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