Vermont Dropped Extra-Inning Contest to Valley in Game One of DoubleHeader

Published on July 6, 2023 under New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release


Vermont Mountaineers' Santino Ross on game night
Vermont Mountaineers' Santino Ross on game night
(Vermont Mountaineers, Credit: Alex Avedisian, Photography Intern)

HOLYOKE, Mass. - The Vermont Mountaineers dropped the opening game of a doubleheader against the Valley Blue Sox on Thursday night from McKenzie Stadium. Valley took the opening contest with a 5-4 walk-off victory in eight innings. Game two was in progress at the time of the release with Vermont trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning. No box score was maintained to accurately depict the action in the game.

The Mountaineers drop to 16-8-1 while the Blue Sox improve to 11-13.

Vermont started off the ball game scoring two runs in the first inning thanks to a triple from Santino Rosso(Hofstra), scoring bothLuke Cantwell(Pittsburgh)and Grant Voytovich(Bucknell). Those were Rosso's 17th and 18th RBI's of the season.

Valley responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the first, thanks to a sacrifice fly from EJ Kreutzmannscoring Matthew Garcia on the play. Vermont's starting pitcher Aidan Risse (Bard) settled in and got out of the inning with no further damage.

Both pitchers combined for a scoreless second inning, with each starter stranding a runner on base.

The Blue Sox knotted the game at two in the home half of the third inning. Antonio Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded and one out, scoring Mason Wolf. Risse left the bases loaded, getting a soft groundout to himself to end the frame.

Jack Walker (Toledo) came in for relief in the fourth inning for Vermont, retiring the Valley hitters in order to keep the game tied at two.

Vermont regained the lead in the fifth inning. With the bases loaded and two away, Nathan Goranson (William & Mary) worked a walk, scoring Brandon Butterworth (NC State). Valley's reliever Leo Harris got out of the jam with a groundout to shortstop to end the frame.

Neither team could score a run during the rest of regulation, as Vermont left the bases loaded in the sixth.Valley went down in order against Mountaineers second reliever of the game, Max Moss (Clark) in the sixth and seventh innings.

The Mountaineers took the lead in the eighth inning. With Tyler Cox (Dartmouth) on second with the international tie-breaker rule for extra innings, he moved to third on a pinch-hit single by TJ Williams (Notre Dame), and then scored on the throwing error by the pitcher to make it 4-3. Valley's Zach Cameron limited the damage by getting a double play and a strikeout as the home team headed into the home half down by a run.

Valley was able to walk it off in the bottom of the eighth. A one-out single by Michael Zarrillo moved Guerrero to third, with the next batter reaching on a walk to load the bases.. A two-run double by Zach Ketterman scored the tying and winning runs to lift Valley to a 5-4 win.

Cameron got the win for the Blue Sox, going two full innings in relief and allowing just a run on one hit while striking out one batter. Moss suffered the loss for the Mountaineers in 2.1 innings of work. He allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits and a walk. He had a pair of strikeouts.

The Mountaineers travel to Alumni Field in Keene, N.H. to take on the Swamp Bats in a North Division clash. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

For continuing coverage of the Vermont Mountaineers, bookmark thevermontmountaineers.com and follow the Mountaineers on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and on TikTok.

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Images from this story

Vermont Mountaineers' Santino Ross on game night
Vermont Mountaineers' Santino Ross on game night
(Alex Avedisian, Photography Intern)		   



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from July 6, 2023


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