Whitehouse Shines in Mountaineers Debut

June 28, 2011 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Vermont Mountaineers News Release


Montpelier, VT - Matt Whitehouse pitched six strong innings giving up just one run on only two hits in his 2011 summer debut as the Vermont Mountaineers defeated the Sanford Mainers 2-1 in New England Collegiate Baseball League action on Montpelier Recreation Field on Tuesday night. Whitehouse (Diamond Bar, CA/UC Irvine) also struck out four and walked one in his impressive first start of the season that included retiring 13 in a row at one point.

His opponent, Sanford starter Eric Stevens, also pitched very well going five innings giving up two runs, both unearned, on five hits while walking one and striking out five. The two runs came in the bottom of the third as Russ Hopkins (Piscataway, NJ/Rutgers) got his first of the summer with a leadoff single. While standing on third, Ty Young hit a weak two-out ground ball to third but third baseman Brett Mollenhauer airmailed the throw allowing Hopkins to score and the inning to continue.

The next batter, Greg Bachman, lifted a bloop pop-up into shallow right field that looked to be an easy out. However, Sanford right fielder Mike Montville and second baseman Jose Torralba collided heads allowing Young to score and Bachman to advance to third. Play was stopped for 25 minutes as medics tended to Torralba who was taken off the field on the stretcher. He was taken to a local hospital and released later in the night with a mild concussion. Stevens (0-2) continued to pitch until through the fifth inning keeping the Mainers close.

Vermont also had their own injury occur as second baseman Brett Johnson was carted off after Ryan Coppinger slid into him at second base trying to break up a double play. Johnson's leg was cut open by the cleats of Coppinger but no serious damage was done.

The Mountaineers held their 2-0 lead until the top of the sixth when Pat Devlin leadoff with a single and later scored on a two out double by Nick LaCroix. Whitehouse (1-0) was able to get out of the inning and preserve the lead. The bullpen combination of Ryan Fasano, Jacob Booden, and Kyle Grana pitched three scoreless innings ensuring a Vermont victory. Grana (Louisville, KY/Bellarmine) recorded his third save of the season after issuing a leadoff walk to Paul Kronenfeld and watching him advance to third on a wild pitch and a dropped third strike. With the tying run on third and nobody out, Grana struck out two straight batters before getting pinch-hitter John Sulzicki to pop out in foul territory to end the game.

Vermont (6-5) begins a brief two game road trip tomorrow, Wednesday June 29th, as they travel to Newport, Rhode Island to take on the Gulls at 6:30 p.m. You can hear all the action beginning at 6:15 p.m. on ESPN 1240, WSKI and worldwide on www.thevermontmountaineers.com



New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 28, 2011


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