The top four batters in the Sanford Mainers lineup combined for eight hits, eight RBI, and eight runs scored on Wednesday night to help their team rout the Bristol Blues 17-2 in Game 1 of a best of three New England Collegiate Baseball League second round playoff series at Goodall Park.
The Mainers left no doubt how this would go early on, scoring five times in the first inning and seven times in the third. Albert De La Rosa (University of Maine) and Jack Tate (St. John’s) both had two hits, three RBI, and scored two runs. Tate hit his third homerun of the playoffs. Antonio Morales (Maryland) had two hits and three RBI, Will Cowan (St. John’s) and Steven Kraus (Binghamton) both knocked in two, while Brennan Staubley (Elon), Jacob Harring (Salve Regina), and Brian Connolly (Brunswick, ME and URI) all added two hits and one RBI a piece. Charlie Hale (UConn) got the pitching win allowing one unearned run on four hits with one walk and four strikeouts in five innings. Fellow Mainers Brennan Rumpf (Falmouth and UMaine) and TJ Curley (Sanford and Stonehill College) both also combined to pitch three scoreless innings. The Mainers have outscored their opponents a combined 36-9 in three playoff games so far. They’ll try for the two game sweep and look to advance to the league championship series when they travel to Muzzy Field in Bristol, Connecticut for Game 2 on Thursday night.
Pitcher TJ Curley celebrates the final out with catcher Ryan Kolben after a 17-2 semifinal playoff win by the Sanford Mainers over the Bristol Blues at Goodall Park on Wednesday night. Photo from Brady Corson (staff photographer)
