RUDDY DOUBLE KEYS EIGHT-RUN SIXTH FOR MAINERS; SANFORD CLOBBERS CONCORD, 10-4

SANFORD – Bubba Ruddy’s bases-clearing, three-run double highlighted an eight-run bottom of the sixth inning for the Sanford Mainers as they defeated the Concord Quarry Dogs 10-4 in NECBL play at Goodall Park on Saturday night. The win was the season-high fifth in a row for Sanford, who pulls into a tie with Concord for the Northern Division’s fourth and final playoff spot. Ruddy added an RBI single to finish 3-for-5 with four runs batted in, and Brian Kemp went 3-for-5 with three RBIs in the victory for Sanford (18-22). Dan Betteridge went 2-for-3 with a double, a run scored and a walk in defeat for Concord (18-22).

After Sanford’s Kevin Landry (William & Mary/Vienna, Va.) and Concord’s Stephen Whalen dueled on the mound through the first five innings, the Mainers struck first with a run in the bottom of the sixth inning. With one out, Tyler Stovall (Central Michigan/Cincinnati, Ohio) worked a walk and stole second base. Two batters later, Bubba Ruddy (Cypress CC, Orange, Calif.) picked up his 20th run batted in of the season with a single to right field to drive home Stovall with the first run of the game.

Sanford would blow the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning, as they sent 14 men to plate and scored eight times on six hits. Tim Kalczynski (Michigan/Farmington Hills, Mich.) started it all when he led off with a single back through the middle. He then moved to second base on a passed ball and to third on a line-drive single through the right side by Jeff Helps (Central Michigan/Wyoming, Ontario). Brian Kemp (St. John’s/East Rockaway, N.Y.) followed by legging out an infield single to second base, scoring Kalczynski to make it 2-0 and moving Helps to second base. The runners moved to second and third when Noah Lankford (Central Michigan/Cincinnati, Ohio) laid down a sacrifice bunt for the first out of the inning. Lankford was the final batter Whalen would face as Concord went to the bullpen and brought in Greg Donnan. After getting Jeff Grantham (St. John’s/Randolf, N.J.) to pop up to second base, Donnan hit Stovall and Scott Guillerault (Wheaton/South Portland, Maine) with back-to-back pitches to load the bases and drive in a run, respectively. Helps scored when Guillerault was plunked to make it 3-0, and the bases remained loaded with two outs. Ruddy then doubled the Mainers lead with a double to the gap in left-center field to drive home all three runs and extend the lead to 6-0. Tim Keene (Massachusetts Lowell/Berlin, N.H.) was the ninth man of the inning to bat, and he hit a single through the right side to move Ruddy to third base and chase Donnan from the game. Julio Nunez entered and walked Kalczynski and Helps back-to-back to force Ruddy home from third and make it 7-0 Sanford. The Quarry Dogs then brought Ryan Walfield out of the bullpen, and he immediately surrendered a double down the right-field line by Kemp to drive in Keene and Kalczynski to extend the Mainers lead to 9-0. After walking Lankford, Walfield finally closed out the inning by getting Grantham to foul out to right field.

Sanford pushed the lead to double digits at 10-0 with another run in the bottom of the eighth inning off of center-fielder-turned-relief-pitcher Josh Logan. Stovall led off the inning with a solo home run to right field for his team-leading 25th run batted in of the season. It was the first home run of the campaign for Stovall, as well as the first home run hit by a Mainer at Goodall Park this year.

The Quarry Dogs scored four times in the top of the ninth inning to create the 10-4 final score. Phil St. Amant led off with a single through the right side and moved to third base on a double down the right-field line by Dan Betteridge which chased Landry from the ballgame. The Mainers turned the lead over to Kurt Heaton (Suffolk County CC/Selden, N.Y.) who walked Brad Agustin and Simi Reynolds to force home St. Amant with Concord’s first run of the ballgame. Dan Lopez followed with an infield single back up the middle to plate Betteridge to make it 10-2. Heaton then walked Meyers to drive home Agustin to make it 10-3 and give Meyers his league-leading 35th run batted in of the season. Dylan Libadisos then hit a sacrifice fly ball to centerfield to score Reynolds. Jake Smith followed and fouled out to first base, and William Long hit a groundball that saw Meyer forced out at second base to end the ballgame.

The Mainers return to action on Sunday, July 29 when they host the Keene Swamp Bats in Sanford’s final regular season home game. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Goodall Park in Sanford. Matt Janik and Bob Lund will have all the action at http://www.sanfordmainers.com.

A complete box score of tonight’s game will be available via http://www.necbl.com.

Founded in 2002, the Sanford Mainers are a non-profit organization and the premier collegiate baseball team in the state of Maine, playing their home games at historic Goodall Park. A proud member of the NECBL, the Mainers annually aid in progressing the careers of the future stars of professional baseball, in addition to bringing top-notch collegiate baseball to the Sanford area. For more information visit http://www.sanfordmainers.com or call the Mainers front office at (207) 324-0010.