MARTHA’S VINEYARD - After a dominant eight wins in a row, the Keene SwampBats hopped on the ferry towards Martha’s Vineyard to face the Sharks for the first time since week one of the NECBL season. After taking down the Sharks in a close game in June, Vineyard got the best of Keene this time, taking the win in a blowout game, with an 11-2 final score.

Vineyard got the best of RHP Ben Rabatin (Kent State) with streaks of base hits, and never looked back, scoring three runs in the first two innings, spearheaded by RF Dominic Moats’ triple in the second. Rabatin ended the game with three innings of work, allowing eight hits, six runs (three of which were earned), walking two and fanning three.

Vineyard exploded for four runs in the fourth inning, capitalizing on some errors from the Bats, while also making two themselves in the later stages with a large lead. However, as he’s been throughout the year, RF Jack Herring (ECU) was brilliant at the plate, going two-for-three with two walks and no strikeouts. DH Ryan Jaros (Rutgers) finished off a strong week as well, with a two-hit performance in four ABs.

In the sixth, Keene finally opened its scoring account as 2B Connor Peek (Georgetown) brought home LF Ripken Reese (Kent State) on a groundout to the left side. Pitchers Marcello Mastroianni (Duke) and Mikey Fernandez (Miami) made appearances in the middle of the contest, and RHP Nate Bassett (Virginia) came in and struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth.

Keene added one more in the top of the ninth on a Ripken Reese fielder’s choice, but the deficit was too much to surmount, as the future one-seed Bats fell to the playoff-bound Sharks. The team moves to 30-12 on the year, and has a chance to break the all-time franchise regular season win total record with wins to finish out the year. 

The SwampBats have a day off on Sunday before making the trip to North Adams on Monday to face the SteepleCats, and will host the Mountaineers on Wednesday. Monday’s contest at North Adams is scheduled to begin at 6:30 PM, and will be streamed on NECBL+.

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