Bowman Brilliant as Mainers Hold on 6-4
Sanford defeats North Adams for seventh straight win

North Adams, MA – Jason Bowman fired seven shutout innings and the Sanford Mainers doused a late-inning rally by North Adams to defeat the SteepleCats 6-4 Thursday night at Joe Wolfe Field. Bowman led the Mainers to their seventh consecutive victory, winning his second decision of the year and throwing first pitch strikes to 21 of 24 hitters.

The Mainers would get on the board first in the third. Kyle Groth singled and Devin Harris doubled with one away. Will Greenberg lined a single to right to plate Groth. Greg Hopkins then delivered a sacrifice fly to bring home Harris and give the Mainers a 2-0 advantage.

Due to some shaky defense by North Adams, Sanford would get some insurance in the fifth. Devin Harris singled with one away for his second hit of the night. After a Greenberg groundout, Hopkins reached on a missed catch error by first baseman Paul Hoilman. Brian Harris walked while Devin Harris scored on a wild pitch. A.J. Casario hit a routine fly ball to center that dropped between center and left, plating two more Mainers. Sanford would get their sixth run in the top of the seventh when Casario came to the plate on a wild pitch.

North Adams would creep back into the game in the bottom of the eighth. With Ryan Lapointe now on in relief of Bowman, the SteepleCats would load the bases with one away. Greg Van Horn singled home a run. Tony Chisman came into the ball game with the bags still loaded. Robert Noe had an RBI groundout to short, Paul Hoilma doubled home a run, and Van Horn came in to score on a wild pitch to make it a 6-4 game. That would be all the SteepleCats would muster up as Chisman fired a perfect ninth.

Bowman gave up just three hits in seven innings to improve to 2-1 on the year. Ryan Lapointe gave up four runs in a third of an inning, and Chisman was scoreless in an inning and two-thirds to notch his second save of the season.

Notes… Bowman threw a first pitch strike to the first 15 hitters he faced…Sanford is a perfect 6-0 against Southern Division opponents so far this year…The Mainers come back home for a three-game homestand starting Friday night against Newport. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30. Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com