Total Team Effort Leads to Mainers' Big Win
July 14, 2023 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett on the mound
(Sanford Mainers, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, V.T. - Talk about flipping the script.
One night after striking out a NECBL season-high 18 times, the Sanford Mainers bats came alive as Seamus Barrett (Loyola Marymount) dominated on the bump in a 10-3 win over Upper Valley on Friday evening.
Despite the final score being tipped well in favor of the Mainers, the Nighthawks scored first to snap a streak of five straight games in which the green and yellow scored first.
A leadoff single by Austin Beck (Angelo State) started the bottom of the third. After a stolen base and groundout, Beck scored on an Adarius Myers (Louisiana Tech) sacrifice fly to open the scoring at 1-0.
Sanford got the run right back as Barrett's batterymate Logan Poteet (Vanderbilt) hit a solo home run over the left field fence to tie the game at one apiece.
An inning later, Poteet's college teammate Cal Hewett (Vanderbilt) sent a two-run double the same direction as Poteet's home run that scored Matt Miceli (Stony Brook) and Kevin Skagerlind (UMass Amherst), both of whom had reached on walks.
Two straight innings was not enough for a Mainers lineup that had put three runs across the night before as with two-outs in the sixth the Mainers brought six hitters to the plate.
Jeremiah Jenkins (Maine) scored on a Miceli single that was also aided by an error in left field by Myers. Skagerlind continued the inning with the third consecutive single before Hewett added a base to his double an inning later.
The third-year Mainer sent a triple to the outfield wall that scored both Miceli and Skagerlind and put the Mainers ahead 6-0.
In the eighth, a one-out rally sparked by a Skagerlind walk propelled the offense to another three-run frame.
Skagerlind came around to score on a Devan Bade (Binghamton) single, which made him the ninth and final Mainer in the starting lineup to register a hit. Bade joined Hewett, who had reached an at-bat prior with a single, on base for Poteet.
Poteet walked to load the pond before Eddie Eisert (Virginia Tech) registered a single of his own to knock in both Hewett and Bade. Eisert's single was his second of the game and made it three straight contests in which the switch-hitter recorded multiple hits.
For the home portion of the eighth, Bryce Afthim (Southern Maine) replaced Barrett on the mound.
The 6-foot-7 right-hander's night was done after seven innings of four-hit, one-run baseball that included nine strikeouts. From the third inning to the seventh, Barrett sent down 13 straight Nighthawks and had a streak of five straight strikeouts mixed in.
Afthim worked a 1-2-3 eighth inning before the Mainers offense gave him an extra run of support for the ninth.
Miceli, Skagerlind and Hewett went back-to-back-to-back with singles as Hewett's was the third and final and scored Miceli. That was the fifth run of the ballgame driven in by Hewett and ended the Mainers night at 10 runs and 16 hits, a new season high.
Afthim struggled to begin the bottom of the final frame as Tyler Long (Mount St. Mary's), Ryan Cesarini (St. Joseph's) and Steve Harrington (Hofstra) helped bring across two more runs. Afthim then drew a double play to end the game and get the Mainers back to a .500 record.
Sanford returns to Goodall Park tomorrow for a Saturday evening meeting with Keene as it looks to avenge a doubleheader sweep from Tuesday.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Seamus Barrett on the mound (Madison Giltner Photography) |
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 14, 2023
- Vermont Quiets Keene with 10-2 Victory; Extends Lead in North Division - Vermont Mountaineers
- Total Team Effort Leads to Mainers' Big Win - Sanford Mainers
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