Swamp Bats Clinch Division With 9-7 Win

July 30, 2012 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Keene Swamp Bats News Release


Danbury, CT - The Swamp Bats have clinched the 2012 Western Division title after defeating the Danbury Westerners Monday night 9-7. The win clinches home field advantage for the Swamp Bats through the first two rounds of the postseason.

With starting pitching at a premium for the Swamp Bats, Andrew Grant (UMass-Amherst) started only his second game of the season Monday night. He went up against 2012 Western Division NECBL All-Star Brett Houseal (Marist).

After an easy first inning for Houseal, Keene got to him in the second inning. JP Sportman (Central Connecticut St.) and Dylan Delacruz (Central Connecticut St.) led the inning off with consecutive doubles. Two batters later, Mike Papi (Virginia) launched a three-run homer, his second of the year, to give Keene a 3-0 lead.

Danbury responded immediately however with two runs of its own the next half inning. Tyler Gurman (Westchester CC) knocked a solo home run to deep left field to make the score 3-1. The next batter, Daniel Spingola (Georgia Tech) single to center field. He then stole second base and scored on an RBI single from Jake Gronsky (Monmouth). Gronsky was stranded at third later in the inning to keep the score at 3-2.

Keene extended its lead in the top of the third inning on two home runs. Grant Kay (Iowa Western CC) hit a solo shot for his ninth of the year. Two batters later, Frankie Schwindel (St. John's) hit his ninth homer of the summer, a two-run shot to centerfield, to give Keene a 6-2 lead.

Grant was not able to make it out of the next inning for Keene, despite not giving up a run. He walked the first three batters of the inning and was pulled after Andrew Garner (Tulane) flew out to right field for the first out of the inning. David Mahoney (UConn) entered with the bases loaded and only one out to face the left-hand hitting Gurman. Mahoney got Gurman to ground into a 6-6-3 double play to end the inning and strand all of the inherited runners.

The score stayed at 6-2 until the bottom of the fifth inning. Zach Shank (Marist) led the inning off reaching base on a drop-third strike. Mike Orefice (Marist) singled to advance Shank to third base. Garner then lined a single off the glove of the shortstop Dylan Moore (Cypress Community College), scoring Shank from third base. Two batters later with one out, Spingola lined a double off the fence in left field to score two and make the score 6-5.

That chased Mahoney from the game. He finished after giving up four runs in only two innings of work. Ryan Horstman (St. John's) entered the game with 1 out and Spingola at second. He immediately gave up a walk to Gronsky and an RBI single to Tom Zengel (North Carolina). Gronsky came around to score as well on a throwing error from Schwindel. That put the score at 7-6 after the fifth inning.

The Swamp Bats immediately responded in the top of the sixth inning. Jared Walsh (Georgia) launched a three-run homer to give Keene a 9-7 lead. For Walsh it is his ninth homer of the season, tying him with Fran Whitten (Maine), Schwindel and Kay in that category.

Horstman continued to pitch lights out for the Swamp Bats over the next three innings, carrying the 9-7 lead into the bottom of the eighth. With two outs, manager Marty Testo opted to bring in Tyler Gauthier (Southern New Hampshire) for the four out save. Horstman struck out eight batters in his 3.2 innings of work.

Gauthier came on and quickly retired Shank for the final out of the eighth. He then pitched an easy 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, striking out the side to earn his second save of the season.

Horstman earned the win for Keene, improving his record to 4-0. Keene improves to 27-12 with the win, while Danbury falls to 22-16 with the loss.

The Swamp Bats are back in action Tuesday afternoon for a 1:00 pm start against the Sanford Mainers. The game is the continuation of a previously suspended game from earlier in July. The game will pick up in the bottom of the second inning with Keene trailing Sanford 9-5.



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 30, 2012


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