Sanford Fails to Capitalize in Loss to Valley
June 5, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Devan Kodali on game night
(, Credit: NECBL)
HOLYOKE, Mass. - From start to finish, it was a story of missed opportunities for the Sanford Mainers as they stranded 16 runners on bases, 10 of which were in scoring position, in a 6-4 loss against Valley on Wednesday night.
Devan Kodali (Vanderbilt) and Jared Davis (Florida Southwestern State) singled in back-to-back at-bats to open the contest before Jack Toomey (Holy Cross) worked a walk to load the bases with no outs in the top of the first inning.
David Case (Grand Canyon) managed back-to-back strikeouts of CJ Willis (Quinnipiac) and Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) to bring up Matt Travisano (UMass Amherst) with the bases loaded. However, Travisano did not register a plate appearance as Kodali broke for home on a ball that got away from Michael Toth (UMass Amherst) but was tagged out.
After Ryan Douglas (Stonehill College) stranded a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the first inning, the Mainers stranded two on in the top of the second frame as Travisano and Jackson Curtis (Husson University), who worked back-to-back walks to lead off the inning, did not pass second base.
Douglas stranded a pair of runners of his own on the basepaths in his portion of the second as he got Andre Vidal (Pacific) to swing and miss for a strikeout with runners on first and second.
The Mainers stranded another runner on in the top of the third allowing the Blue Sox to get on the board first in the bottom of third.
Douglas allowed three straight hits to the top of the order, Chase Swain (Manhattan), Logan Hugo (Eastern Michigan) and Jonathan Hogart (Murray State), with the third one, a double from Hogart, bringing across Swain for Valley's first run.
Two batters later, Hugo came home to score on a groundout by Frankie Ferrentino (Merrimack) before a pair of pitches to the backstop, one wild pitch and one passed ball, allowed Hogart to score.
Trailing for the first time in 2024, the Mainers stranded another pair of walks, these two by Ryan Kolben (UMass Amherst) and Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay State), on the basepaths in the top of the fourth inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Douglas allowed a walk to Curry Sutherland (Missouri State) and a single to Toth before being pulled from the game for Jackson Walsh (Wheaton).
Walsh hit the first batter he saw to load the bases before getting a swinging strikeout of Swain. With one out and the bases loaded, a wild pitch allowed Sutherland to score prior to a two-run single by Hugo that gave Valley a 6-0 lead.
Walsh bounced back with two scoreless innings in the fifth and sixth giving way to Sanford getting on the board in the seventh.
Mike Jensen (UMass Amherst) relieved Will Newell (Dayton), who threw three scoreless innings of six-strikeout baseball, and promptly retired the first two hitters he saw out of the bullpen. Before he could get out of the inning, Willis worked a base on balls and stole second base leading to a run-scoring single by Schaaf.
That two-out magic returned in the ninth following two more scoreless innings thrown by Bijan Anvar (Franklin & Marshall).
Chris Torres (Eastern Connecticut State) set down Travisano and Schaaf to begin the visitor portion of the ninth, but the Mainers kept their on-base streak alive.
Curtis reached on an error, which ensured the Mainers had a runner on base in all nine innings, and Kolben and Hernandez followed with walks. With the bases loaded and two outs, Kodali, who had stranded six runners on base in the contest, laced a triple down the right-field line, which cut the deficit to 6-4.
That 6-4 score held as the Mainers suffered their first loss of the 2024 campaign. Sanford returns to action tomorrow in their home opener at Goodall Park against the Mystic Schooners.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Devan Kodali on game night (NECBL) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 5, 2024
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- Sanford Fails to Capitalize in Loss to Valley - Sanford Mainers
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