Baseball / Bats keep rolling in 5-1 victory over Ocean State

Bats keep rolling in 5-1 victory over Ocean State

Date:  Source: NECBL - Keene Swamp Bats

Keene never gave up the lead and Joseph Simeone bordered on greatness as Keene won their third in a row.

Scoring in the first and ninth inning, Keene was unstoppable, but the bullpen looks tired. With only six relief pitchers available, Keene will need long outings from their starters to achieve victory.

They got exactly that as Tail-gunner Joe Simeone went 6 and 1/3 innings pitched for Keene, getting his second win as a Swampbat.

Randy Bednar, firing up Keene’s offense, launched a Shamus Brazill fastball to deep right-center, clearing the scoreboard for his ninth dinger of the season.

Brazill, Ocean State’s starter, gave up two runs over six inning and got a tough-luck loss due to the anemic Waves lineup not scoring with runners in scoring position.

Bednar again was the lifeblood of the Swampbat order, going 3 for 5 and accounting for four of the five runs Keene scored.

Had Bednar not been in the lineup, Keene probably would have lost.

Keene could have scored in the fourth with first and second and one out lost the opportunity with three straight Bats getting out.

In the bottom of the fourth, with Joe Simone on third, Xavier Vargas struck out and Casey Dana popped out to center.

Up 1-0, Andrew MacNeil added to the lead with a solo moon shot to right, in almost the same spot Bednar hit his homer, to put Keene up 2-0.

Simeone struck out Joe Simone, no they are not long lost cousins, in the sixth and officially took the team strikeout lead from Luke Albright. With 10 strikeouts tonight and 59 total on the season, Simeone is a machine.

Simeone had his one blip of the night when Garrett Hodges launched his inside fastball deep to right for his fourth of the season, cutting Ocean State’s deficit to one but that homer being the only run scored by Ocean State.

If there’s one thing that has nagged at Keene this week, it’s scoring with runners on third or second. Keene flopped on bases loaded and one out and 2nd and 3rd and one out, keeping the game close until the end. 

Kevin Welsh struggled at the plate, going 0 for 5 with two strikeouts and an inning-ending double play.

With Simeone being yanked in the seventh, Michael Bacica got an inning-ending double play to end the inning.

Pitching into the eighth, Bacica thanked Randy Bednar when he made a leaping catch to rob Matt Lonardo of a possible triple.

Still 2-1, Keene finally struck again when Bednar, with bases loaded and one out, laced a slider down the left-field, going for a base clearing double and scoring Seth Caddell, Andrew MacNeil, and David Matthews.

Peyton Deats, reliever for the Waves, walked three straight and was doomed to give up some sort of runs in the half-inning.

Up by four, Justin Willis shut the door on a fatigued Ocean State team as Keene avenges their 6-5 loss to the Waves at Alumni two weeks ago.

For Keene, they secure a playoff spot. However, if North Adams wins two out of their last three and Keene loses tomorrow, Keene may find themselves in second place come playoffs.