Baseball / One down, one to go!!!!!! Keene beats Vineyard for the first time this summer to move one game closer to NECBL Champions

One down, one to go!!!!!! Keene beats Vineyard for the first time this summer to move one game closer to NECBL Champions

Date:  Source: NECBL - Keene Swamp Bats

Whatever Vineyard did this summer had no impact on the men in purple as they clobbered the Sharks in the Shark tank, 14-10.

For Keene, coming in 0-2 against the Sharks, the game was an offensive explosion with twenty-four runs scored total and even though it was stressful to the end, Keene pulled away victorious in game one of the NECBL Championship.

Vineyard almost started the scoring off in the bottom of the first with first and second and no outs. Joseph Simeone, being the stud he is, got Jackson Raper to line out to first and Alan Burnsed to ground into a 4-6-3 double play.

Keene scored in spurts tonight and the first one began in the second inning. With bases loaded and no out, Justice Lucas lined a single into left field, scoring Kyle Ball.

Keene would eventually score three more off RBI singles from Randy “Special Agent” Bednar and Red Fury Bedgood,

Up 4-0, Simeone was able to hold the lead until the fourth.

Following a Nander Desedas single, Michael Knell launched a Simeone heater to deep left field, his first homer of the postseason that cut the Shark deficit to two.

Holding onto the 4-2 lead, Josh Spiegel grounded to Logan Mathieu. Mathieu, an all-star first baseman, committed a Bill Buckner error as the ball went under his glove and into right field.

Colin Shapiro walked and with second and third and two outs, Matt Chamberlain grounded to short. Kevin Welsh, also unlike his playing style, underthrew the ball to first, bouncing over Mathieu’s glove, and scoring Shapiro and Josh Spiegel.

Tied at four, both teams were offensively silent until the seventh.

Keene, tired of the tie game and wanting revenge on the Vineyard, demolished Shark relief pitching, scoring 10 runs in the last three innings of the game.

Scoring all these runs off of relievers, it makes pitching slim for the Vineyard team come tomorrow night.   

Starting in the seventh, Kyle Ball singled and six pitches later, Logan Mathieu took an Angelo Tonas fastball deep to right, his second home of the postseason and second at the Shark Tank.

Up 6-4, Mark Mendel came in to stop the bleeding. Mendel, pitching to a 1.44 ERA over 18.2 innings during the regular season, looked ready to stop the rally.

He did the complete opposite as Keene scored three more runs from an Andrew MacNeil double to center, Justice Lucas scoring on a passed ball and a Randall Bednar single to center.

With Mendel out, Robert Nadel came in with bases loaded and walked in two more runs, putting Keene up 11-4 and the chances of the Sharks coming back were slim.

This is not to say Vineyard made it interesting.  

Nander Desedas would tee off on a Michael Bacica fastball to make it 11-5.

Bacica was able to go 2 and 2/3 innings and halt the Vineyard rally but was hurt by the long ball.

Up 11-5, Ryan Hogan scored on an Andrew MacNeil sac grounder to second, making it 12-5, but Vineyard was not done yet.

Following a Nicholas Raposo walk in the bottom of the eighth, Alan Brunsed launched another Bacica fastball into left for a two-run dinger and a 12-7 Swampbat lead.

Nander Desedas, one pitch later, took the same Bacica fastball deep to right for his second homer of the night and second against Bacica. To say Desedas owned Bacica is an understatement.

After Bacica was yanked, the homeboy, Erick Zecha, came in to relieve the ailing Stetson right-hander.

With bases loaded and two out, Zecha, threw a wild pitch to score Michael Knell and then gave the third single of the night to Matt Chamberlain, as Josh Spiegel crossed home.

Up 12-10 and afraid Vineyard had a comeback on the rise, Kyle Ball came to the rescue, hitting a two-run dinger to left field, putting the icing on the cake, and killing any hope of a Vineyard rally.

Cristian Sanchez pitched a perfect ninth and Keene now has the chance to win the Faye trophy at home tomorrow at 6:30.

For Swampbats players, they do not want to travel back to the Vineyard, a four-hour trip, on Friday so the time to win is now.

It will be all-out madness and all hands on deck at Alumni when Keene vies for their first NECBL championship since 2013.