MONTPELIER, Vt. – After letting the New Bedford Bay Sox tie the game in the ninth, Vermont Mountaineers catcher Ciaran Devenney (Manalpan, N.J. / University of Massachusetts Lowell) delivered a two-out walk-off single to left center field to give Vermont a 6-5 New England Collegiate Baseball League win on Friday night.

Left fielder Cam Climo (Billerica, Mass. / University of Massachusetts Lowell) started the 10th inning at second, before advancing to third on a ground out. Devenney drove a ball to left center for the winning run.

Vermont’s right-handed pitcher, Alec Huertas (Bethlehem, Pa. / Long Island University) had a stellar three up, three down through three innings before things got rocky. It started with a base hit from New Bedford’s, Sam Henrie (Middleboro, Mass. / Southern New Hampshire University) who then put the first run on the board in the top of the fourth. Tommy Seidl (Wellesley, Mass. / Harvard University) and Jack Winkler (Littleton, Colo. / University of San Francisco) added to the Bay Sox lead fifth to give the visitors a 3-0 lead. However, Vermont broke for four runs in the home half of the sixth with four unanswered runs.

The bats started to come alive in the sixth for the Mountaineers when sophomore Austin Gauthier (Lorton, Va. / Hofstra University) singled to get on base just before junior Matt McDermott (Little Falls, N.J. / College of William and Mary) landed a solid bunt to the third base side. Gauthier advanced on a stolen base and scored the first run for Vermont on a sacrifice fly by Evan Giordano (Sewell, N.J. / Stony Brook University). McDermott moved up a base on a single by Climo, before the bases were loaded on a walk. Another sacrifice fly to right field this time brought McDermott in, before Devenney singled in a pair of runs to give the Mountaineers a 4-3 lead.

Vermont tacked on one more in the seventh after a one-out double by McDermott, who scored on a Climo double to make it 5-3.

The Bay Sox tied the game in the ninth with one out. They loaded the bases twice and a single by Rafe Chaumette scored Winkler and Henrie. Vermont right-hander Beau Keathley (Taylor, Mich. / Oakland University) fanned the final two batters to leave the bases load heading into extra innings.

 Huertas faced 25 Bay Sox batters and put five of them on the bench early with strike outs through six full innings. Andrew Mundy (Lake Grove, N.Y. / Hofstra University) pitched two innings of relief, allowing three hits and no runs while striking out two batters. Although Keathley gave up two earned runs, he finished the game with six strikeouts and earned the win. The loss went to Matthew Stansky took the loss with three hits and four runs.

Vermont improves to a 16-13 record and will face the Newport Gulls for another home game on July 13th at 6:30 p.m. 

Written by Cierra Loomis