The SwampBats lost to the Sanford Mainers 6-3 in game 2 of their first-round playoff series. Sanford advanced to the semifinals after also winning game 1 on Thursday.

The Mainers loaded the bases without a hit in the top of the second inning with one out. Josh Gunther (Wake Forest) struck out the next batter, but with two outs, Sanford hit a flyball to deep center. The ball was difficult to read and landed on the warning track allowing two runs to score. Joe Jaconski (Penn State) threw the batter out at second trying to stretch it into a double, ending the inning. Austin Hawke (Wake Forest) reached second base on an error by the shortstop in the bottom half but went no further. Stephen Bangs (Franklin Pierce) relieved Gunther with two on and two out in the third and got called for a balk, but buckled down for a big strikeout. Nick Romano (Florida Atlantic) drew a walk in the bottom of the fourth as the SwampBats still searched for their first hit.

Bangs exited with two on and one out in the fifth. A walk loaded the bases, and then the Mainers’ catcher, all-star game MVP Colin Barczi, crushed a grand slam over the trees in center field to make it 6-0 Sanford. The bottom of the fifth was particularly peculiar. Mainers’ pitcher Thomas Ellisen, who had been nearly perfect through four, walked Bryce Molinaro (Penn State), Ripken Reese (Kent State), and TJ Schuyler (Indiana) consecutively to load the bases with nobody out. Andrew Wiggins (Indiana), who played the national anthem on his saxophone before the game, hit a ground ball that was muffed by the shortstop to get the SwampBats on the board. Two batters later, Jake Koonin (Princeton) was hit by a pitch to force in a run and make it 6-2. Reese elicited cheers from the playoff crowd of 1640 at Alumni Field with a solo home run off the barn in right field in the sixth to make it 6-3. Schuyler followed with a single but nothing came of it.. 

Koonin hit a one-out single in the seventh, but only made it to second base. Sean Finn (Connecticut) pitched two and two-thirds innings, keeping the score close and striking out three. Nick Guidas (Kent State) got all three outs in the eighth, helped out by an interference call. In the bottom half, Reese drew a two-out walk and then Schuyler lined a single to left, bringing the tying run to the plate. Wiggins hit a bouncing ball toward the middle, but the Mainers’ shortstop made a nice play to turn it into a fielder’s choice and end the SwampBats’ best threat in the late innings. Virginia’s Charlie Oschell pitched a one-two-three ninth, but Keene could not get a baserunner in their final turn of the season.

The SwampBats are eliminated from the NECBL playoffs after finishing the regular season 26-18. Stay tuned to social media and SwampBats.com for updates on the 2025 season.