KEENE, NH – RHP Kyle Whitten (Virginia) tossed seven shutout innings to help the Keene SwampBats (21-14) blank the New Bedford Bay Sox (16-19) by a score of 2-0 on Friday night at Alumni Field. 

The SwampBats are now 13-3 in the month of July. 

Whitten (2-3) surrendered six hits while fanning seven over his 7.0 IP. RHP Perez Nichols (Broward-1.0 IP, BB, 2 K) and RHP Justin Willis (Vanderbilt-1.0 IP, 2 K) combined to close things out for Keene as Willis notched his third save of the summer. 

The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fifth as Whitten and New Bedford starter Jared Shuster (Wake Forest) traded zeroes. 

In the home half of the fifth, Joe Breaux (Alabama) led off with a single, stole second, took third on a passed ball and scored on a sac fly from Nick Romano (St. John’s River) to give Keene a 1-0 lead. 

Brandon Smith’s (Dayton) solo shot in the top of the seventh stretched the SwampBats’ lead to 2-0. The home run was Smith’s 10th of the season. 

Smith’s solo shot also made him Keene’s new single-season franchise RBI leader with 42, breaking the previous record of 41 that was set by J.P. Sportman in 2012. 

Smith (2-3, HR, RBI, R) had a multi-hit game for manager Lyndon Coleman’s squad. 

The SwampBats head to Vermont to battle the Mountaineers on Saturday at Montpelier Recreation Field. First pitch is set for 6:30 PM. RHP Jake McLinskey (2-2, 2.97), out of Kennesaw State University, will get the start for Keene.