Mainers Pound Mountaineers, 10-3
Sanford improves to 2-0 against the defending champs.

Montpelier, VT – Brian Harris drove in three, and Kyle Groth hit his first homer of the year as the Sanford Mainers hammered the Vermont Mountaineers 10-3 Monday night at Recreation Field. Mainers’ starter Mike Wilson was solid in seven and two-thirds innings of work, allowing three runs in his third appearance of the season.

With the score tied at one, the Mainers would take the lead in the fifth and bust it open in the sixth. Greg Hopkins and Will Greenberg both walked to lead off the frame. After a wild pitch, Brian Harris lined a single to center to plate Hopkins. Steve Brooks then hit a grounder to short off of the glove of Jonathan Roof for an error, allowing Greenberg to come to the plate.

In the top of the sixth, Groth and A.J. Casario hit consecutive singles. Hopkins tried to bunt the runners over but also reached on a fielding error by reliever Eric Smith. With the bases loaded, Greenberg was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Brian Harris scorched a double down the left field line to score both Casario and Hopkins. Greenberg would cap off the four-run sixth by scoring on a passed ball by catcher Jeff Mercer.

Down by six, Vermont got a solo homer by Kevin Nieto in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 7-2 ballgame. However, in the top of the seventh, Sanford would erase any Mountaineer hopes of getting back into this one. Branson Joseph singled and scored on pinch-hitter Anthony D’Alfonso’s double. Groth blasted a two-run shot to right to give the Mainers a sizeable 10-2 advantage. Vermont would add the game’s final run on an Ethan Paquette RBI single.

The Mountaineers got one in the first. Back-to-back walks by Mike Wilson started the inning, followed by an infield single by Kevin Nieto. Jeff Mercer delivered a deep sacrifice fly to Klint Reed to score Jonathan Roof, with Scott Schauer moving up to third on the play. Wilson limited the damage when he induced a 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Nick Harris to end the inning.

Sanford tied the game in the top half of the fourth. Joseph ripped a double just fair down the left field line. Devin Harris followed that up with a line-drive single to right-center to plate Joseph and knot the game up at one apiece.

Wilson earned win number one on the season. The southpaw allowed the three runs on five hits, walking four and punching out two. Tony Chisman and Ryan Cole combined to pitch a scoreless inning and a third to finish off the game. The former Mainer Eric Katzman suffered the loss. The fellow left-hander gave up three runs in five frames and struck out six.

***Box scores available at necbl.com

Notes… The 10 runs is a season-high for Sanford…The seven run margin of victory ties a 2008-high… Vermont used two positon players to pitch later in the game in Alan Oaks and starting first baseman Paquette…The Mainers head to Lowell Tuesday night to take on the All-Americans. First pitch is slated for 6:30. Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com