SwampBats Blow Early Lead, Drop to 5th Place
July 13, 2016 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Keene Swamp Bats News Release
KEENE - Rolling out to a 5-1 lead into the 5th inning, the SwampBats (14-14) looked primed to begin the home stand with a victory but a Vermont Mountaineers (11-15) late game comeback doomed Keene, 7-5.
Tommy Doyle (Virginia), the starting pitcher for the Northern Division in NECBL All-Star game, got the start and was cruising early.
Doyle sat down the first 7 batters he faced before giving up a single to Ryan Fineman (Indiana) in the 3rd inning. Held to a pitch count because of the all-star game, Doyle went 4.2 IP, giving up 1 earned run on 2 hit, and struck out 7 to just 1 walk.
No surprise that Doyle had another solid outing but it is a surprise as of late when the SwampBats offense shows up. Tonight was one of those nights they did show up, at least early in the game.
Striking first in this one, the ¬ËBats got things going in the 3rd inning when Lucas Luopa scored the first run of the game on a throwing error from Vermont shortstop Jeremey Giles (Stony Brook). The scoring did not stop there as all-star Brandt Stallings (Georgia Tech) hit his team leading ninth double of the season to score two more runs and extend the SwampBats lead to 3.
After the Mountaineers got 1 run across in the top of the 4th inning, the SwampBats offense showed they were not going to be complacent, at least for the time being, with a 2 run lead.
Slumping Jack Morock (Iowa Western) lead the bottom of the 4th off with a walk, followed by a Garrett Christman (Butler) single. It was then time for two of the smaller guys on the team, Lucas Luopa (Eckerd) and Josh Shaw (St. John's), to do some damage. Luopa singled into center field to bring home Morock and Shaw singled in to center as well to bring home Christman.
Up 5-1, the ¬ËBats brought Alumni alive but it would go downhill from there.
Keene got two quick outs in the top of the 5th inning before Shaw booted one at short to allow Vermont's Trevor Ezell (Southeast Missouri St.) to reach first. Joe Tietjen (UNC-Ashville) made the SwampBats pay for that in the next at bat as he hit a 2-run home run trim the Mountaineers deficit to just 2.
Mike Crimi (Keene St.) came back out in the 6th and it did not get any better. Allowing a double and hitting batter, Fineman stepped to plate and was given a pitch to hit. Fineman drove the 2-1 fastball over the fence in right center field to give the Mountaineers the lead for good.
No response from the ¬ËBats offense in the 7th, 8th, and 9th as just 2 batters reached base in those three innings.
Chandler Sedat (Indiana) got his first save of the season as a Mountaineer and SwampBats dropped to 5th place in the NECBL's Northern Division.
The SwampBats will play another at Alumni Field tomorrow when they take the Winnipesaukee Muskrats (14 -13).
The game can be heard live on the NECBL Broadcast Network and FM 104.1 and AM 1220 ESPN Keene.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 13, 2016
- Pitching and Defense Lifts SteepleCats to Victory - North Adams SteepleCats
- Mainers Walk-Off to Take Share of Division Lead - Sanford Mainers
- Mystic 5, Danbury 4 - Mystic Schooners
- SwampBats Blow Early Lead, Drop to 5th Place - Keene Swamp Bats
- Mountaineers Come Back to Top Swamp Bats 7-5 - Vermont Mountaineers
- SteepleCats Fall to Gulls - North Adams SteepleCats
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