Mainers Suffer Home Loss to Lowell, 9-5
Sanford drops consecutive contests for the first time since June 16

Sanford, ME – The Sanford Mainers could not overcome a couple two-run homers off of the bat of Kevin Rivers as they fall to the Lowell All-Americans 9-5 Friday night at Goodall Park. Down by seven, Sanford tried to stage a late-inning comeback with three in the eighth, but reliever Alex Szymanski would retire the final four batters to preserve the victory.

Lowell took a quick 1-0 lead in the first. Starter Jason Bowman delivered a wild pitch allowing Steve Daniels to come in and score an unearned run. The All-Americans would power two more on the board in the third. With one out and Nick Pecora on second, Rivers blasted a two-run shot to right to give Lowell a three-run lead.

The Mainers would get those two runs back in their half of the third. Greg Hopkins walked and Klint Reed singled to right. After a wild pitch and a Steve Brooks pop out, Corey Hunt delivered a RBI groundout to second base. Kyle Groth then came through with a line-drive single to center to plate Reed and bring the Mainers within one.

Lowell would score a pair in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings. In the sixth with runners on second and third and two away, Dan Godefroi blooped an opposite field double down the left-field line to give the All-Americans some insurance and a 5-2 lead. Jeff DeCarlo came on in relief of Bowman, but he also couldn’t retire Rivers as the left-handed hitting right-fielder ripped his second homer two-run homer of the night. The All-Americans would get their final two tallies on a Daniels sacrifice fly and a Pecora run-scoring single in the eighth.

Sanford would try to creep back into the ballgame in their half of the eighth. Back-to-back pinch-hit singles by Devin Harris and Brian Harris started the inning. Groth bounced a ball to third. Michael Baillargeon stepped on third base for one out and finished off the double play by throwing out Groth at first. Pinch-hitter Will Greenberg kept the inning alive with a single to center, with Brian Harris holding at third. Anthony D’Alfonso poked a single to left to score Brian Harris. After a wild pitch, Matt Nandin hit a groundball to third that took a wicked hop and tricked into left-field for a two-run single to make it a 9-5 score. However, Szymanski came on in relief and struck out Kevin Reimer to end the frame and retired the side in order in the ninth to end it

The loss was credited to Bowman who drops to 2-2 on the year. He went six innings and gave up five runs on nine hits. The righty struck out four. DeCarlo gave up four runs in two and two-thirds frames and Ryan LaPointe recorded one out on the only batter he faced in the ninth. Dan Lozeau earned his first win of the year. He lasted seven and two-thirds and allowed five runs on 11 hits.

***Box scores available at necbl.com

Notes… The Mainers are now 3-2 against Lowell this season…Attendance Friday night was 677… The Mainers are back in action Saturday night at Goodall Park, welcoming in the North Shore Navigators. First pitch is slated for 6:30. Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com