Westerners Top Keene in Opener
August 8, 2012 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Danbury Westerners News Release
KEENE, New Hampshire: NECBL hitters have been unkind to opposing pitchers all summer long, so it's only fitting that the opening game of the Western division championship series quickly devolved in to a home run derby.
Five Westerners-- including a couple of unusual suspects-- sent shots high and far in to the New Hampshire night, but that wasn't enough to put the Keene Swamp Bats (with their league leading batting order) away in the early going.
Up 6-1 in the bottom half of the 3rd, Danbury watched its once commanding lead slowly wither away-- from 6-1 to 6-4, 7-6, 8-7- until it vanished altogether.
With the score tied at 8 in the 9th, however, NECBL all-star Daniel Spingola saved the Westerners from the cusp of disaster. He ripped an RBI single in the left-center field gap, Tom Zengel scampered home, and the Westerners put themselves in line to take a commanding 1-0
lead in this best of 3 divisional championship series.
Closer Jake Stinnett then silenced the Swamp Bats (who batted an astounding .315 as a team during the regular season) with a 1-2-3 9th to put the defending NECBL champions one loss away from elimination.
Danbury blasted all 5 of its home runs in the first 5 innings as theytook control of the game early. Andrew Garner and Tyler Gurman got things going in the 2nd before Zach Shank and Jake Stinnett (yes, Westerners closer Jake Stinnett) conformed to the trend in the 3rd.
Stinnett, who batted just 6 times during the regular season, has now reached base in 6 of his 10 plate appearances during the playoffs. He has capably and admirably plugged the gaping hole left on the right side of the infield by concussed NECBL all-star and RBI machine Mike Orefice while simultaneously maintaining his dominance on the mound.
Danbury's home run barrage put them ahead 6-1 in the 3rd, but starter David Gibson quickly gave 6 of those runs back over the next two innings. Gibson made it through just 3 2/3, allowing 6 runs on 7 hits.
Danbury added a 7th run when Michael Thomas blasted a solo home run in the 4th, thus they still held the lead when Gibson turned the game over to Zach Tax in the 5th. Thomas, who barely batted over .150 during the regular season, picked the perfect time to hit his first home run in a Westerners uniform.
Though Tax fared a bit better than Gibson (he tossed 2 1/3 innings of 2-hit ball), he did allow the tying run to cross in the 5th. Danbury took the lead right back in the top half of the 6th on an RBI double by Tom Zengel, but southpaw reliever Eric Luksis made sure that they didn't keep it for long.
Luksis faced 5 batters in the 7th, and 4 of them reached base. He allowed 3 consecutive hits (though one was a bunt) and then walked in the tying run before Coach Shevchik turned to Tom Coughlin to stop the bleeding.
To say that Coughlin (who was largely untested during a regular season in which he joined the team late and threw just 3 2/3 innings) came up huge would be an understatement. Entering the game with the score
tied, the bases loaded, and just one out, he got a force out at home for out number 2 and then gassed Grant Kay on 3 straight pitches.
Coughlin's 7th inning performance alone was enough to make him worth of the win, but he followed up the biggest 2 outs of the Westerners summer with a dominant 8th as his encore. He retired the Swamp Bats in order, setting the table for Spingola's heroics in the top half of the ninth.
Coughlin masterfully retired all 5 batters he faced. Combine that with Stinnett's 1-2-3 9th, and you get a Westerners bullpen that recovered from an extended spurt of shakiness in the middle innings to turn in a stellar 8-out performance.
Spingola's bat and Coughlin's arm successfully silenced a massive and vocal crowd of over 1300 at Keene's Alumni Field.
On Wednesday night, the Westerners will return home to Rogers Park with a chance to clinch their first Western division title since 2010. Southpaw Ben Brewster is set to make the start. First pitch is at 6:30.
In 18 years of existence, the Westerners have yet to win a Fay Vincent Cup. With tonight's victory, they are now just 3 wins away from history.
New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 8, 2012
- Newport Gulls to face Danbury Westerners for NECBL Championship - Newport Gulls
- Westerners Top Keene in Opener - Danbury Westerners
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