SwampBats Late Comeback Falls Short Against the Reigning Champs’
DANBURY, CT - Following a tough loss to the top ranked Vermont Mountaineers and an off day, the SwampBats hit the road to Connecticut to take on the 2021 NECBL Champions, the Danbury Westerners. After a long bus ride, the SwampBats bats fell down early and never got back on their feet.
The Westerners got things going early jumping out to a 7-1 lead following a five run second inning. The SwampBats only gathered two runs until the ninth inning to the second inning, a Dan Covino (Central Connecticut St. University) RBI single and then Carter Mathison (Indiana University) scored on a wild pitch. The SwampBats were held quiet from Westerners pitching almost all night.
The SwampBats entered the ninth inning trailing by six runs and started to pull a rally together. It started with a Tony Santa Maria (Rutgers University) two-run double into the right center gap. Jackson Ross drove Santa Maria home and all the sudden it became a ball game. The ‘Bats brought Mathison up the dish representing the tying run. Mathison ended up striking out swinging, ending the game there. The Westerners bent, but didn’t break in their first matchup with Keene since both franchises won the NECBL title.
However, the biggest headline from this game for the SwampBats came from their tall right handed pitching from Radford Univeristy. William Flanigan held it down for the ‘Bats staff, he lasted five strong innings of relief which included 10 punchouts! Flanigan, who had no strikeouts through his just two appearances, is now tied for the team lead in strikeouts after just one massive performance.
The SwampBats lost this battle in Danbury, 8-5. The SwampBats are back in action tomorrow at Alumni Field for a 6:30 pm ET first pitch. You can come to Alumni Field to watch the game, watch it on the NECBLnetwork.com, or listen live on Pure Oldies 104.1 FM.
