Nighthawks fall short against Sanford
By: Patrick McCaw
Photo Credit: Riley Bergstrom
SANFORD, ME - The Upper Valley Nighthawks fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Sanford Mainers Monday night. This was the second consecutive road-trip to Sanford for the Nighthawks. In their first meeting the two teams battled in a back and forth affair, with the Nighthawks ultimately coming out on top after 11 innings.
Kevin Bruggeman went right back into his previous form in Goodall Park, in his first at-bat he drove in Adarius Myers for the game's first run. It didn't take long for the Mainers to tie-up the ball game as Devon Bade lined one up the middle to drive in the tying run.
The Nighthawks kept their foot on the gas pedal early as they led the game with a score of 2-1 up until the fifth inning. "We got some timely hitting early on in the game to take the lead." Nighthawks Hitting Coach Garrett Nance said.
However, the tide would turn once starting pitcher Teddy Tolliver was replaced by Will Taylor. Taylor hit four of his first seven batters which would assist the Mainers in taking the lead in the sixth.
Taylor's struggles forced Nighthawks Pitching Coach Chad Sturgeon to throw Michael Ciminiello into the game early, "He got tired," Sturgeon said, "He gained live pitching and live at-bats. The hitting squads were also just completely different. He just got tired. We have to build him."
Ciminiello's lack of warm-up time was apparent, he threw a wild-pitch and hit a batter quickly after coming out. His hit-by-pitch upped the Nighthawks total of hit batters to six. However, Ciminiello ended his play strongly and did not give up a run. "Michael went out there and struck out the first batter, I'm happy with that," Sturgeon said, "He got up in his pitch count in the last inning, but he fought through it."
Ciminiello would settle down and end the inning with a swinging strikeout. Jordan Goldmann would close out the game on the mound for the Nighthawks. He would have the overall best pitching performance of the night for Upper Valley, posting a 2.45 ERA, but it was too little too late for the Nighthawks.
Upper Valley's hitters couldn't find their rhythm late into the game, "We are going to go to work on our situationally hitting. We left a bunch of guys on base and if we capitalize on that this would be a different conversation." Nance said.
The Nighthawks ended up on the wrong side of a 3-2 scoreboard. Upper Valley will take on the Bristol Blues on Tuesday at Maxfield.
