Schooners Send Sanford Sailing
June 28, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers Colin Barczi at bat
(, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
GROTON, Conn. - One day after snapping a three-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Danbury Westerners, the Sanford Mainers fell to the Mystic Schooners 7-4 at Fitch High School on Friday night.
In a similar fashion to the game one day prior, the Mainers got on the board with a scoring outburst early. After scoring all three of their runs in the second inning on Thursday night, Sanford scored all four of its runs in the third inning.
Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) and Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) each worked singles from the bottom third of the lineup. With those two on base and Miceli at third base, Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) flew out to left field to drive home a run.
C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac) followed Davis with a two-out walk against Dan Driscoll (Eastern Connecticut State) to keep the inning alive for Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt). Barczi fell behind in the count 1-2 before evening it up at two apiece and taking the fifth pitch of the at-bat over the centerfield wall.
Barczi's third home run of the season scored both Lanowitz and Willis as the Mainers went up 4-0 in the first third of the game. Those four runs were all the offense for Sanford as the bats went quiet from there on out.
"We can't get complacent," Nic Lops said of his offense. "We can't just have one crooked number early in the game and think your pitching is just going to put up a bunch of zeros. In a perfect world that happens, but we have to have more consistency throughout the game."
Connor Ball (Alabama) kept the Schooners off the board in the bottom half of the third inning despite an error and walk. However, in the fourth, the NECBL leader in ERA coming into the evening was charged with the first earned run against him all year.
Ball recorded the first two outs of the bottom of the fourth inning, but Jack Goodman (Northeastern) extended the inning with a solo home run. Goodman's blast traveled 375 feet before landing as Mystic got on the board for the first time.
An inning later, Nick Solorzano (Stony Brook) singled with one out before Ball retired Cian Sahler (Fordham) on a groundout. For the second inning in a row, the Schooners struck for a two-out home run, this time from JuJu Stevens (Missouri) as the hit trimmed the deficit to just one run.
"It's frustrating because you have to get the third piece of the pie," Lops said of his pitching staff that surrendered all seven runs with two outs in an inning. "It's getting a little complacent again, but this time by our pitchers. They need to go out there and pitch to throw, execute spots and execute situations."
Mystic hit their third two-out home run one inning late in the sixth against Aidan Colagrande (Fairfield), who had retired the first two hitters on just four pitches. On the second pitch of the third at-bat, Cody Miller (East Tennessee State) launched a 369-foot home run that tied the game at four apiece.
With the game tied, the Schooners struck for another two-out run in the seventh inning. Sahler worked a walk against Ryan Douglas (Stonehill) before Stevens recorded his second extra-base hit of the contest, which came by way of an RBI double.
That go-ahead run stood for the rest of the game although the home team got another two runs in the eighth inning to cushion the lead. A two-out single by Tyler Minick (UConn) brought home both Juan De La Cruz (Stetson) and Miller.
Sanford went down in 1-2-3 fashion in the ninth inning against Connor Podeszwa (Tufts). Podeszwa combined with Driscoll, Ryan Schwede (Villanova), Derek McCarley (East Tennessee State) and Devin Wolff (UConn) to keep the Mainers hitless from the third inning on.
"You certainly have to tip your cap to those guys," Lops about Mystic's pitching staff. "They're a good ballclub. They're well-coached. Phil Orbe pulled all the right buttons bringing in all the right guys when necessary."
The Mainers finish off their four-game, three-night Connecticut trip with a doubleheader at Muzzy Field tomorrow. Sanford will serve as the home team in game one, which begins at 4:00 p.m., before the Bristol Blues resume that role for the nightcap.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers Colin Barczi at bat (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 28, 2024
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