Colin Barczi hit a fifth inning grandslam on Saturday night, in lifting the Sanford Mainers to a 6-3 win over the Keene Swamp Bats in Game 2 of a first round Northeast Collegiate Baseball League playoff series in Keene, New Hampshire. Sanford sweeps the best of three, and advances to the semifinals to meet top seed Vermont.
After a dominant 8-0 win in Game 1 in Sanford on Thursday night, the Mainers took a second inning lead that they would never give back on a two-run single by Jared Davis for a 2-0 advantage. The grandslam by Barczi (Vanderbilt University) in the fifth was set up by a leadoff double by Davis, Caleb Shpur was hit by a pitch, and Christopher Willis drew a walk. Keene scored two in the last of the fifth, and also got a solo homerun from Ripken Reese in the sixth as they finish their season with a record of 26-20. Thomas Ellisen (UConn) earned the win on the mound for Sanford allowing three runs on two hits with four walks and 10 strikeouts in 5.2 innings. Beau Brailey (University of Alabama) picked up the four out save. Barczi and Davis (Florida Southwestern State) each had two hits.
#4 seed Sanford improves their record to 28-18 and will now travel to take on the top seeded Mountaineers (32-11) from Vermont in a best of three series beginning Sunday evening in Montpelier. All games in the series are 6:30 p.m. start times, with Game 2 on Monday at Goodall Park and a Game 3 (if necessary) on Tuesday back in Vermont. The other semifinal series will pit #2 Newport (Rhode Island) against #3 Bristol (Connecticut).
