Baseball / Swampbats continue revenge tour with 12-8 slugging of North Adams

Swampbats continue revenge tour with 12-8 slugging of North Adams

Date:  Source: NECBL - Keene Swamp Bats

Three games into an eight-game stretch and the Swampbats look like the real deal. For a team that was 2-4 at home and 4-0 on the road, they needed a big win over a top team and even though North Adams had taken them down 6-5 at home just a couple of weeks ago, they were not prepared for the offensive onslaught that Keene brought.

Starting in the first, Randall Bednar singled and following a Will Wagner walk, Mitchell Golden would hit a triple down the right field foul line, scoring Bednar and Wagner.

North Adams would then hand Keene another run when third basemen Matt Koperniak over-threw first basemen Kevin Brophy on a Kyle Ball grounder, scoring Golden and making the game 3-0.

North Adams would retaliate with two runs over the next two innings with a Shane Mutz RBI single and Swampbat catcher Seth Caddell letting a ball go past him, scoring Joseph Porcelli.

With the game 3-2, it seemed like Keene would have a nail biter to the end but with Zach Messinger on the bump, Keene was in good hands. 

Messinger, making his third start, would go six innings with two runs and one of them being earned, lowering his ERA and getting his second win as a Swampbat.

Keene made it easier for the Virginia right-hander in the third with an RBI sac-double play from Kyle Ball, scoring Wagner and extending Keene’s lead to two.

In the fourth, Keene attacked with a large five-run explosion, which included back-to-back solo homers from Seth Caddell and Andrew MacNeil and a two-run shot to right field from Brandon Smith.

MacNeil’s homer was well hit but should not have gone out as North Adams center fielder Josh Loffler looked to have a good read on it, suggesting it should have been a casual pop out.

However, thanks to a wind gust from other nature, MacNeil’s ball caught flight and just scraped over the left-center field wall.

Those homers, combined with a Will Wagner sac fly to center, gave Keene a 9-2 lead, a lead they would never lose.

In the sixth, David Bedgood added an insurance run with a solo homer to right center, going 10 plus feet over the Alumni field scoreboard and his 4th of the season.

Even with an eight-run lead, Keene’s bullpen made things exciting…..for North Adams fans.

With Josh Bates on the mound, he would hit two batters and walk one, only throwing one strike and handing North Adams a bases loaded and no out situation.

Out came Bates and in came Antonio Knowles, who walked in a run, struck out Steeplecat shortstop Bryan Picone and then got Sam Punzi to ground into a double play.

North Adams would have trouble with runners in scoring position as they grounded into three inning-ending double plays.

In the eighth, Keene sent two more runners across home with a Will Wagner RBI single and a fielding error from Josh Loffler when he lost the ball in the lights, scoring Seth Caddell. With a 12-3 score, Keene looked primed to win the game.

However, Keene’s bullpen, though getting the win, would make it stressful for their home crowd.

Peyton Stephens, making his debut as a Swampbat, would walk Josh Loffler and Joseph Porcelli and with men on second and third, would give up a three-run bomb to Sam Punzi, his first of the season, to cut Keene’s lead to six.

Following that, Stephens was yanked, and Erick Zecha was put in. Zecha would get the final out but not without two more runs scoring on a Logan Mathieu error at first. Mathieu, who thought second basemen David Bedgood was throwing to second, was completely thrown off guard when Bedgood threw to him, going under his glove and making the game 12-8.

Keene wins their third game in a row, going 7-4 and avenging another home loss.

However, it’s a game that had some unnecessary stress. The Swampbats have now used three bullpen pitchers and with six more games in six days, they will look to their starters to go six-plus as they take on North Adams for the second day in a row at Alumni.