Willis' Cycle, Bade's Two Home Runs Lead Mainers in Offensive Outburst
June 8, 2024 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers News Release
Sanford Mainers' Jared Davis, C.J. Willis, and Nathan Barksdale on game night
(, Credit: Madison Giltner Photography)
KEENE, N.H. - When it rains, it pours.
One day after the rain got the best of the Sanford Mainers and forced a postponement, the Mainers poured on the offense in an 8-2 victory over the Keene SwampBats on Saturday evening.
With a two-game losing streak hanging over them in the early part of the season, the Mainers went down in 1-2-3 fashion to begin the game. However, after Andrew Castelluccio (St. John's) worked around a leadoff walk with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout in the bottom of the first inning, Sanford's offense began to get going.
C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac) doubled to open the top of the second inning before Nathan Barksdale (Austin Peay) and Blake Schaaf (Georgetown) followed with back-to-back groundouts. Those groundouts were productive as they each advanced Willis a base with Schaaf's leading to a 1-0 Sanford lead.
Another scoreless frame from Castelluccio put the Mainers back at the plate against Nick Perryman (Cal State Bakersfield). Matt Miceli (Stony Brook), who was celebrating his birthday, singled off Perryman with one out in the inning.
On the very next pitch, Devan Bade (Binghamton) launched a two-run home run, which traveled 377 feet, to put Sanford ahead 3-0 in the top of the third. The third-year Mainer's two-run blast was to be only the first ball to leave the park in the inning.
Two batters after Bade homered, Willis deposited a home run of his own that traveled 366 feet to center field. Willis' jog around the bases extended Sanford's largest lead of the season to four.
That four-run lead did not last long, however, as Joe Jaconski (Penn State) launched the third pitch of the bottom of the third inning over the barn in right field to cut Keene's deficit to three. The very next batter, Ripken Reese (Kent State), followed suit with his own solo blast to trim the Mainers' lead down to two.
Those home runs were all the scoring for Keene in the inning, and the game, as Castelluccio got out of the rest of the third without a hitch.
Schaaf led the top of the fourth inning off with an 11-pitch walk and advanced into scoring position as Ryan Kolben (UMass Amherst) grounded out back to the pitcher. After hitting 6-for-33 with runners in scoring position over their 1-2 start, Jackson Curtis (Husson) singled before Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay) finished the job with an RBI single that scored Schaaf.
T.J. Curley (Mount St. Mary's) replaced Castelluccio in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Sanford native went two scoreless innings and posted three strikeouts out of the bullpen as the first of five relief pitchers that held Keene off the board.
After Curley finished his second scoreless frame, the Mainers offense, which was held scoreless in the fifth frame, went back to work in the sixth. Another one-out single by Miceli was followed a couple of batters later by a two-out single off the bat of Jack Toomey (Holy Cross).
Willis, who singled during the scoreless top of the fifth inning, came to the plate in the sixth with two runners on and needed just a triple to complete the cycle. The left fielder for Sanford hit a ball down the right field line, which got into foul territory, and rounded the bases all the way to third.
That triple by Willis, which completed his chase for the cycle, scored both Miceli and Toomey to put Sanford ahead 7-2.
Jackson Walsh (Wheaton) and Aidan Colagrande (Fairfield) each threw scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh innings respectively.
After Colagrande's scoreless frame, which included an inning-ending double play, the first two hitters of the inning went down in order. With two outs, Bade hit a ball 344 feet over the left field fence for his second home run of the game.
Toomey, Willis and Barksdale loaded the bases after Bade's home run, but they were all left stranded giving way to Chris Gallagher (Purdue) coming out of the bullpen.
Gallagher loaded the bases but managed a strikeout of Victor Izquierdo (US Naval Academy) and a double play started by Schaaf to end the threat.
Conner Griffin (Binghamton) was next up on the mound for Sanford after a scoreless top of the ninth by the offense. Griffin allowed a one-out walk to Jaconski, who reached base in all five of his plate appearances, before striking out the final two hitters to secure the victory.
The 8-2 victory put Sanford back at.500 on the season. The Mainers travel to Vermont tomorrow as they look to make it 13 consecutive wins against the North Division.
Images from this story
 Sanford Mainers' Jared Davis, C.J. Willis, and Nathan Barksdale on game night (Madison Giltner Photography) |
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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from June 8, 2024
- Willis' Cycle, Bade's Two Home Runs Lead Mainers in Offensive Outburst - Sanford Mainers
- Big Sixth Inning Leads Vermont To 10-5 Victory Over Valley Blue Sox - Vermont Mountaineers
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