Valley Takes Game One, Mainers Face Elimination

Published on August 7, 2016 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release


SANFORD - For the first time in the entire NECBL postseason, a home team lost when the Valley Blue Sox out-slugged the *Sanford Mainers *in a game one 8-3 win, taking a 1-0 lead in the best of three series.

Valley did most of their damage in one big inning, the 5th, where the Blue Sox scored five times to turn a tie game into 7-2 lead. Braxton Morris (Morehead State) hit a one out single and was promptly joined by Hezekiah Randolph (New Orleans) on a walk. Erik Ostberg (Hartford) knocked in Morris for a run, while he was followed by Chris Starcun (American International) in the batting order who did the same, scoring Randolph on a single. Later in the inning, Brodie Leftridge (Tennessee) hit a two-RBI double as the Blue Sox totaled five runs on just four hits and throwing error in the frame.

The calamitous inning chased starter *Troy Miller (Michigan)*, who departed after four-and-one-third innings of work, after he allowed eight hits, five runs, four earned, two walks as well as four strike outs in the loss.

Sanford's offense did a lot of work early, but never did quite break through. The Moose loaded the bases in the 3rd inning on a pair of singles from *Todd Czinege (Villanova) *and *Johnny Slater (Michigan)*, in addition to *Zack Jancarski (Maryland) *reaching on an error in the infield. With the bases loaded, *Shaine Hughes (Monmouth) *grounded into a 3-2-3 double play, fending off the Mainers. *Mike Landestoy (Texas Christian) *singled to load the bases again, but Slater was thrown out at the plate after trying to score on a ball which had momentarily gotten away from Valley catcher Kipp Moore (Murray State).

Again the Mainers loaded the bases in the 4th on two singles and a walk, and this time the Mainers cashed in. *Jordan Powell (Rhode Island) *hit a sacrifice fly to score *Chris Gaetano (Monmouth) *from third. Czinege knocked in the second run of the inning on a dropped fly ball in right field to give Sanford their last run of the game.

The Mainers travel to Holyoke, Massachusetts tomorrow where they face the Blue Sox in a do-or-die game two. First pitch of the elimination game is scheduled for 6:30 PM, with pregame coverage beginning at 6:20 PM on the NECBL Broadcast Network and The Legends in Sanford, 1220 AM and 102.3 FM.

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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 7, 2016


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