Mainers Split Twin Bill at Holyoke
Sanford wins game one 6-2 before falling 8-3 in the nightcap

Holyoke, MA – Pat Lehman picked up a complete-game victory in game one. However, Holyoke got to game-two starter Mike Wilson early with five second-inning runs as the Sanford Mainers split a double-header against the Blue Sox with a 6-2 victory coupled with a 8-3 loss Saturday at MacKenzie Stadium.

In game one, Sanford would use three first-inning runs to take command at the outset of the game. Steve Brooks walked to leadoff the game. With one down, Kyle Groth singled. Branson Joseph delivered one of his three game-one hits to score Brooks. After a balk allowing Groth to score from third, Anthony D’Alfonso grounded a RBI single down the left field line to give the Mainers a 3-0 lead. Holyoke would get one of those runs back off of Lehman in their half of the first on a sacrifice fly by Sean Killeen.

The teams would trade one-run blows in the next couple of innings. Corey Hunt would drive in Will Greenberg on a bloop single to shallow center. Holyoke would get a solo tally in the third on their second sacrifice fly of the game, this time off the bat of Corey Jones. The Mainers would cancel out that run in their next at-bat as Groth brought home Greenberg with a sacrifice fly of his own. Sanford would get their sixth and final run when Joseph came in to score on a single and an error on groundball to the right side off the bat of Matt Nandin.

Lehman won his fourth straight start, firing the full seven innings and allowing two runs on seven hits. The right-hander struck out three. The Mainers beat Rob Gariano for the second time this season. Gariano got through five frames and allowed five runs on 11 hits.

The Blue Sox turned the tide on the Mainers in game two. For the second straight time, the Mainers took an early three-run lead. Greg Hopkins shot a groundball through the left side to score Joseph for the Mainers’ first run. Leading off the second, Devin Harris became the first player to homer at MacKenzie stadium this season, with a deep drive to straightaway center field. Sanford got another run in that second on a Joseph sac fly, plating Kevin Reimer.

It would be all Holyoke for here on out as they recorded eight unanswered runs starting with five tallies in the second inning off of Wilson. The Blue Sox would send nine to the plate and get two-run singles from both Brendan Shepherd and Peter Fatse to give Holyoke a 5-3 lead after two. The Blue Sox would add one more off Wilson in the fifth on a Killeen run-scoring double. The scoring would be capped on a RBI double by Alex Hilliard and a sacrifice fly by Craig Turner off of Ryan Cole in the sixth.

Wilson was saddled with the loss in game two. The southpaw allowed six runs on seven hits over four and two-thirds innings of work. Tony Chisman pitched a flawless inning and Cole allowed the two runs on two hits in his two-thirds of an inning. Justin Albert picked up the complete-game victory for Holyoke. The left-hander settled down after the first two innings when he allowed all three runs. Albert struck out six in his seven innings.

***Box scores available at necbl.com


Notes…Sanford is now 3-1 against Holyoke after the split… The two earned runs allowed by Lehman were the most he has surrendered in a game this season… The Mainers are off both Sunday and Monday before hosting the Pittsfield Dukes Tuesday night at Goodall Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30. Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com