News

Written by Jeff Bowe

Sanford, ME — The Sanford Mainers (4-1) and Vermont Mountaineers (2-2) threw first pitch right on time at 6:30 pm at Goodall Park in Sanford, Maine. Bobby Ruse (Maryland) received the ball for his first start of the postseason and after 2 innings there was no score and this had the makings of a pitcher’s duel between Ruse and Vermont starter Sam Spencer, but a burst of rain poured into Goodall Park delaying the game 1 hour before the start of the 3rd inning. After the rain left the area the blue skies reappeared and we restarted a scoreless game in the top of the 3rd. Bobby Ruse went back to the mound and allowed 2 runs in the top of the 3rd inning putting the Mainers down 2-to-0.

The Mainers brought the lumber tonight, plating 5 in the bottom half of the 3rd to take a 5-to-2 lead, Sam Balzano (Univ. of Maine) worked a leadoff walk,  Drake Parker (Vanderbilt) infield singled, Balzano moved to 2nd base, Sam Dexter (So. Maine) lines out moving both Balzano and Parker into scoring position and Caden Bailey (Georgia State) strikes out for the second out of the inning. Cory Raley (Texas Tech) continues his hot streak reaching base in 5 straight games all 5 playoff games, with a single to right field scoring both Balzano and Parker to tie the game 2-to-2. Raley stole second base all with 2 outs and Matt Harris (St. John’s) earns a free pass putting runners at first and second. Dan Hetzel (URI) drills a 3 run bomb over the left field wall for his first home run of the season and the postseason bringing the score to 5-to-2. Nick Lovullo (Holy Cross) singles with 2 outs on the board and steals second base and Kevin Stypulkowski (Univ. of Maine) walks to put runners on once again. Sam Balzano who started the inning with a base-on-balls flied out to third to end the inning as the Mainers bat around the order for the first of two times in the game with a 5-to-2 lead after  3 innings of exciting baseball. 

Bobby Ruse worked 4 innings allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs, with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts in the no decision. Vermont answered back in the top of the 4th with 2 runs of their own making it a 5-to-4 ball game, the ‘Neers tied it up in the top of the 5th bringing home 1 run to make it 5-to-5. In the bottom of the 6th, Nick Lovullo leads off the inning with a double to center field, Kevin Stypulkowski reaches on an error by reliever Dalton Goss who toss the ball into the bullpen down the right field line allowing Lovullo to score all the way from 1st and Stypulkowski to advance to second. 

Balzano moves Styp to third with a sacrifice bunt, Parker is hit-by-pitch from Goss to move runners to first and third with 1 out and Parker steals second base to avoid a double play with Sam Dexter up, Dexter drives a ball to the deepest part of the ball park for the triple to center bringing home both Stypulkowski and Parker. Caden Bailey receives an intentional walk; Cory Raley is given the intentional free pass as well to load the bases still with only one out and Matt Harris is drilled with the pitch from Goss to drive in a run making it 9-to-5. Nick Miceli induces a fly out from Dan Hetzel and Nick Lovullo; who started the inning with a double as the Mainers bat around the order for a second time! 

The Moose hold on, with Anthony Ciavarella (Monmouth) delivering 18 pitches, 13 strikes, out of the pen working the last 3 games in a row and only given up one run in those three appearances in the 6th inning to Vermont, Jon Chudy (Pace Univ.) works the 7th and 8th with 32 pitches, 20 strikes, both scoreless with 1 strikeout and closer Cam Hatch (St. Edwards) took just 12 pitches, 10 strikes to secure his 3rd save of the postseason earning a berth into the NECBL Championship series by the final of 9-to-6!!

Drake Parker finishes 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored moving his playoff batting average to .267, Sam Dexter had a huge 2 RBI triple during his 1-for-5 evening, Caden Bailey went 2-for-5  with a stolen base, Cory Raley finished 1-for-3 with 2 RBI’s and a stolen base his third of the postseason, Matt Harris finished 0-for-3 with a run scored and 1 RBI and Dan Hetzel rocked a 3-run home-run during his 1-for-5 night.

The Mainers return to the Fay Vincent Cup Championship Series in search of the cup for the first time since 2008, which was the last time the Mainers won the NECBL Championship!

All the game information can be found on www.sanfordmainers.com and www.necbl.com as always the Mainers road games can be heard on 1220 AM and 102.3 FM The Legends in Sanford and viewed/listened to on https://www.teamline.cc/sportpage?teamcode=6312&eventcode=5 The NECBL Championship opponent has yet to be decided with Newport taking game 1 from Plymouth by a final of 9-to-6 to take a 1-to-0 lead back to Cardines Field.