Swamp Bats Slip Past Vermont

Published on June 10, 2012 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release


Montpelier, Vt. - The Mountaineers failed to hold an early 2-0 lead as the Keene Swamp Bats (2-1) overcame five team errors en route to a 5-2 win over Vermont (1-3) in New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) action on Sunday night at Montpelier Recreation Field.

For the fourth consecutive game, Vermont jumped out to an early lead as two Swamp Bats errors allowed both Brian O'Grady (Warminster, Pa./Rutgers) and Aaron Barbosa (Dracut, Mass./Northeastern) to score in the bottom of the first innings. Keene starter Kevin McAvoy was able to work through the frame without further damage and kept the Mountaineers in check through five innings.

Alex Haines (Greesnboro, Pa./Seton Hill) started off well for Vermont retiring the first five batters he faced including two strikeouts to start the game. In the top of the third, Austin Wheeler singled to lead off the inning before Ryan Beal popped out to second base. Then, Nelson Ward hit a sharp grounder to third base in which Rob Kelly (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif./Saint Anslem) overthrew first baseman Logan Pierce allowing Wheeler to score all the way from first to cut the Mountaineer lead in half.

In the top of the fifth, Fran Whitten was hit by a pitch to start the frame and later scored on Ward's RBI groundout tying the score at 2-2. Kelly would again commit an error to lead of the the sixth allowing JP Sportman to reach as he would later score on the Dylan DelaCruz single to give Keene a lead they would not relinquish.

Vermont attempted to tie the game and regain control late, putting runners at the corners with one out in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Joey Ceja. The Swamp Bats then brought in Rob Rogers who got Chris Cook (Annapolis, Md./George Mason) to ground out into an inning ending double play. Keene would add two more runs in the top of the ninth off reliever Walker Stadler (Glenview, Ill./Indiana) to increase their lead to 5-2 and Rogers would pitch a perfect ninth to get his first save of the year.

Haines (0-1) pitched six innings giving up three runs, one earned, on just four hits while striking out four in his home debut while McAvoy (1-0) went five innings giving up two runs, one earned, on three hits. He struck out four and walked one before handing the ball over to the bullpen who used four arms to get four scoreless innings.

The Mountaineers hit the road for their next contest when the travel to Danbury, Conn. to take on the Westerners at 6:30 p.m. at Rogers Park. All the action can be heard live on ESPN 1240, WSKI and on www.thevermontmountaineers.com.

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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 10, 2012


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