Sanford – The Sanford Mainers picked up another massive win on Friday night at Goodall Park as they took down the division-leading Valley Blue Sox by a final of 2-1, the second straight night they’ve downed a divisional opponent by the same score.  This is the 4th straight win at home for the Moose as they stay in control of 2nd place in the Northern Division sitting just 2.5 games back of Valley.
It was another great night on the mound at home for R.J. Hall (Marietta, Ga./Tufts) as despite giving up Valley’s lone run in the game, he went six strong innings on the hill striking out five and kept his team right in it as the game progressed into the late innings.
The game remained 1-0 in favor of the Blue Sox into the bottom of the 6th, but with two outs the Mainers would change that with some clutch two-out hitting.  After Tyler Solomon (Haymarket, Va./Vanderbilt) drew his league-leading 30th walk, Jake Alu (Hamilton, N.J./Boston College) picked right up where he left off before being out a week with an injury as he put a ball off the base of the right center field wall that brought Solomon all the way around from 1st to tie the game up.  Brandon Lankford (Mocksville, N.C./UNC-Asheville) kept it going as he came up to the plate and roped a double down the left field line that scored Alu and gave the Moose a 2-1 lead.
Angelo Smith (Thornton, Illinois/Michigan) came on to through a scoreless 7th and 8th inning as he struck out three.  Jake Dexter (Oakland, Maine/Southern Maine) came on and grabbed his first save of the season striking out a pair as the Moose picked up their 20th victory.
With the win, the Mainers move to 2.5 games back of Valley for the one spot in the Northern Division with 11 games to play.  Sanford heads on the road tomorrow to Upper Valley before getting a day off on Sunday so they will look to end on a high note.  You can catch all the action on the NECBL Broadcast Network and 102.3 FM “The Legends” with first pitch set for 6:30.