The Sanford Mainers reached base five times in-a-row with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the SwampBats 6-5

Penn State’s Joe Jaconski, the first batter of the game, drilled a line drive to the gap in right-center field. Despite the center fielder cutting the ball off before the warning track, Jaconski turned on the jets and dove headfirst into third base with a triple. NECBL home runs leader Jake Koonin (Princeton) drove him in with a sacrifice fly to center, his team-leading 22nd RBI of the summer. The Mainers put runners on second and third with two outs in the bottom of the first, and hit a bloop single into right. One run scored easily, and the runner from second was safe as well when the ball was dropped on a close play at home. Sanford had a runner at third with one out in the second inning, but starter Charlie Oschell (Virginia) induced a groundout and a foulout to keep it 2-1.

In the top of the fourth, Sam Biller (Connecticut) singled and Nick Romano (Florida Atlantic), fresh off a diving play in the bottom of the third, did the same with nobody out. Ripken Reese (Kent State) walked to load the bases and put the Mainers’ lead in an extremely precarious position. Maryland’s Alex Calarco hit a hard ground ball to first, which the first baseman could only block and flip to the pitcher for an RBI groundout. Indiana’s Andrew Wiggins followed by hitting a slow ground ball to the third baseman’s left, which he could only throw to first, allowing the SwampBats to take a 3-2 lead. Oschell gave up four hits, no walks, and two runs, while striking out two over four innings. Ben Shenosky (Penn State) replaced him and was helped by another diving play from Romano with a runner on third in the fifth. Immediately after, first baseman Calarco made a beautiful pick on a throw from shortstop to maintain the lead. Sanford tied the game on a broken-bat groundout with the bases loaded in the sixth, but the next batter fouled out with the go-ahead runs in scoring position to end the inning.

Josh Gunther (Wake Forest) came in to pitch the seventh and a diving play by college teammate Austin Hawke helped him to a 1-2-3 inning. He hit the first batter of the eighth, but despite the runner stealing second, Gunther struck out the next three to keep it 3-3 heading to the ninth. Reese led off with an infield single, and then Wiggins drew a one-out walk. After a popout, it was up to Hawke with two on and two out in one of the biggest spots of the season. He hit a fly ball to straightaway right field which appeared to be a routine play for Mainers’ right fielder CJ Willis. Willis, one of the stars of the league, shocked everybody at Goodall Park by dropping the ball, allowing the SwampBats to take a 5-3 lead. In the bottom of the ninth, Gunther recorded two quick outs, putting the SwampBats on the brink of their first win against the Mainers this summer. Two walks forced a pitching change, but Keene was still just one out away. The next batter singled to score a run and move the tying run to second. Willis then came up with a chance to dramatically redeem himself and he did just that, tying the game with a bloop single down the right field line. With the winning run now at third, Sanford’s cleanup hitter Colin Barzci drilled the game winning hit to deep center field. 

Keene (18-10) visits Danbury on Saturday and will be home next Wednesday for First Responder & Military Appreciation night sponsored by Service Credit Union and Monadnock Ford.