Sanford's Bats Stayed Hot in a Convincing Bounce Back Win
June 16, 2018 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford - The Sanford Mainers' bats stayed hot on a warm, beautiful Saturday night in Sanford, Maine, as they bounced back from a tough loss with a nice win at Goodall Park taking down the Winnipesaukee Muskrats by a final of 9-5. For the second straight game the Mainers offense set a new season high in runs and picked up their fifth win in the last six games.
Although Winnipesaukee struck for two runs in the top of the 1st inning, the Mainers came right back with a three spot of their own in the bottom half to take the lead. After Carmine Pagano (McLeansville, N.C./UNC-Asheville) led off with a hustle single and Jake Alu (Hamilton, N.J./Boston College) walked on four straight pitches, Johnny Rizer (Cypress, TX/Texas Christian University) smacked the first of his three hits on the night that scored Pagano. Two batters later, Conner Shepherd (Upland, Calif./Texas Christian University) put a charge into a ball that found its way to the left field fence scoring Alu and Rizer, putting the Moose up 3-2.
The Mainers' starting pitcher R.J. Hall (Marietta, Ga./Tufts) would record two scoreless innings to keep the score where it was before the Muskrats were able to get the tying run home in the top of the 4th to knot the game up at 3 apiece.
As would be the case all night, Sanford had the answer in the bottom half of the inning as Pagano came up with an RBI base knock that scored Harrison Salter (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Michigan) and gave the Mainers the one run lead again at 4-3.
The Muskrats tied the game for the final time in the top of the 5th inning, but, the Mainers used a big bottom half of the inning to jump on top for good. After two walks to Rizer and Shepherd and a single by Nick Howie (Oakville, Ontario, Canada/Eastern Kentucky) loaded the bases, Shane Marshall (Webster, N.Y./Binghamton) drew an eight pitch walk to bring home the go ahead run. Brad Czerniejewski (Lake Forest, Illinois/Texas Christian University) followed up the walk with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Howie to put the Mainers up 6-4. The bottom of the order for Sanford wasn't done yet as Salter picked up his first hit on the year, an RBI single, and Jonathan White (Lawrenceville, Ga./Presbyterian) brought home the fourth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to put the Moose on top 8-4.
The Mainers tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the 6th for their bullpen on a moonshot home run off the bat of Johnny Rizer, his second of the season, which gave them a 9-5 lead heading into the final three innings.
The bullpen was back in prime form as Jack Weisenburger (Rockford, Mich./Michigan) threw a scoreless 7th and 8th striking out five of the six batters he retired. Not to be outdone, John Murphy (Merchantville, N.J./Maryland) slammed the door in the 9th striking out the side for the second straight time in as many appearances by the big righty and gave Sanford a big bounce back win at home.
Sanford will get a much deserved day off on Sunday before having to play six games in six days starting on Monday as they play host to the Valley Blue Sox who are tied with the Mainers for second place in the Northern Division just a half game back of the Upper Valley Nighthawks. First pitch is set for 6:30 on what is supposed to be a very warm day in Maine as the Mainers look to keep those bats hot. You can hear it all on the NECBL Broadcast Network and of course head over the www.sanfordmainers.com for all things Sanford.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 16, 2018
- Sanford's Bats Stayed Hot in a Convincing Bounce Back Win - Sanford Mainers
- Nighthawks Top Mountaineers - Upper Valley Nighthawks
- Keene Drops Fourth Straight, Losing to North Adams - Keene Swamp Bats
- Upper Valley Takes First Governor's Cup Game over Vermont, 3-1 - Vermont Mountaineers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
