Sox Knock Cover off Ball to Take Season Series Over Sanford
July 6, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Ryan Kolben in action
(Sanford Mainers)
HOLYOKE, Mass. - Away from the confines of Goodall Park for the third consecutive game and fifth consecutive day, the Sanford Mainers lost the rubber match of the season series against the Valley Blue Sox on Saturday evening at Mackenzie Stadium.
It took until the third inning for either side to strike as Colton Trisch (George Washington) and Gregory Shaw (UConn) traded zeroes on the scoreboard. However, in that third inning, the Blue Sox got on the board as the first four hitters of the inning reached base against Trisch.
Logan Hugo (Eastern Michigan) and Jonathan Hogart (Murray State) walked to kick off the inning before Michael O'Conor (Eastern Illinois) continued the stretch with a single to load the bases. That single by O'Conor was the first hit of the night for Valley, but it was followed by Jay Bant's (Monmouth) single that brought across the game's first run.
With Hogart, O'Conor and Bant on the basepaths, Nic Lops took the ball from Trisch in favor of Jackson Walsh (Wheaton). Making his 10th appearance of the summer, Walsh escaped the bases loaded without yielding a second run as strikeout, popout and lineout ended the home portion of the third.
"In that situation, you're hoping as a coach that you minimize the damage to a couple of runs," Lops said of the situation Walsh inherited. "At that point of the game, to come out of that trailing by one was massive."
Two more scoreless innings from Shaw, which included stranding three runners on base including two in scoring position, put Walsh, who had gone six up, six down, back to the mound for his third inning.
Like the situation he inherited in the third, Walsh struggled to find the first out of the fifth inning. Hogart singled before O'Conor and Bant were hit by pitches to load the bases.
The next batter, Connor Misch (Xavier), singled to knock home both Hogart and O'Conor as the Blue Sox pulled away.
The streak of Valley batters that reached before the first out of the fifth was recorded continued when Kollin Ritchie (Oklahoma State), who was making his first appearance of the summer, doubled to bring home Bant.
"They capitalized on our free passes," Lops said of the onslaught of runs that Valley had in the fifth and sixth innings. "Walsh ended up putting on two guys for free in that inning and then later down the road the hits allowed them to capitalize on those free passes."
Although Walsh rebounded on a comeback from Andrew Estrella (Central Florida), Michael Toth (UMass) kept the runs coming across with a two-run triple that scored Misch and Ritchie for a 6-0 lead.
A run-scoring groundout by Chase Jans (Kansas) allowed Toth to score the sixth run of the inning as the Blue Sox led by seven.
Sanford did score a run in the next half-inning as one of the free passes issued to Colin Barczi (Vanderbilt) and C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac) paid dividends. Devan Bade (Binghamton) loaded the bases with a single before Corbin Lanowitz (UNC Asheville) delivered a run on a groundout to second base.
"We've got to toughen up," Lops said of his offense that stranded nine runners on base. "We've got to be better, plain and simple. They gave us eight free passes tonight and we didn't do much with them. When a team is gifting you free baserunners you have to make that hurt like Valley did to us tonight."
Valley capitalized on another free pass in the sixth as Andrew Castelluccio (St. John's) hit Hogart with a pitch to start the inning. A passed ball and wild pitch put Hogart on third base for Bant, who delivered an RBI single.
Two batters later, Ritchie recorded his second extra-base hit in as many innings with a two-run home run that traveled 418 feet over the right-field fence. That home run made it 10-1 in favor of the Blue Sox.
Jared Davis (Virginia Tech) matched Ritchie's home run with one of his own in the top of the seventh inning. Davis' first home run of the season traveled 351 feet.
Valley got the run back in the eighth as it closed out the 11-2 victory. The win was the Blue Sox's second against Sanford this season as they captured the three-game season series victory.
"We need to be mentally tougher and handle adversity a little bit better," Lops said as his team looks to rebound against the Martha's Vineyard Sharks on Sunday. "We need better body language, and we need to play better in all aspects of the game."
Sunday's contest against Martha's Vineyard is set for a 4:30 p.m. first pitch at Goodall Park. The game will stream exclusively on ESPN+.
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 Sanford Mainers' Ryan Kolben in action |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 6, 2024
- Sox Knock Cover off Ball to Take Season Series Over Sanford - Sanford Mainers
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