Mainers Drop Game One to Mountaineers, 5-3
Game two slated for 6:30 first pitch Sunday night at Vermont

Sanford, ME – Pat Lehman surrendered back-to-back RBI doubles to Joe Sparacino and Jeff Mercer and the Vermont Mountaineers stole game one from the Sanford Mainers 5-3 Saturday night at Goodall Park. The Mainers dominated the Mountaineers in the regular season winning five of six matchups, but Vermont can now wrap up a stunning first round upset with a win Sunday night in Montpelier.

With the score tied 3-3 in the top of the eighth, Vermont would grab the lead. Nick Panzarella walked with one away. After a Nick Harris flyout to right, Sparacino picked on a Lehman fastball and roped a double the left field line, into the corner. Panzarella scored to give the Mountaineers the lead. The next batter was Mercer who also smashed an opposite field double, this time down the right field line to plate Sparacino and make it a 5-3 score. The Mainers would pose a threat in the ninth. Sanford had Kyle Groth on second base and the tying-run Mike Murray on first, but Matt Nandin hit a chopper to Jonathan Roof who stepped on second for a game-ending fielder’s choice.

Vermont would get on the board first with solo tallies in each of the first, second and fourth innings. Sparacino delivered a two-out RBI single in the first. The Mountaineers would get their second inning run on a wild pitch with Ethan Paquette coming in to score. Vermont would make it 3-0 on a Gerald Ogrinc run-scoring single.

Sanford would rally to tie the game with two in the fourth and one in the sixth. Nandin singled to lead off the fourth. Anthony D’Alfonso cracked an opposite field double, splitting the gap in left-center to score Nandin from first. Branson Joseph tapped a grounder to first for the first out, with D’Alfonso advancing to third. Devin Harris then delivered a sacrifice fly to right to bring the Mainers within one. Sanford would tie it in the sixth inning on a Joseph ringing triple to dead-center to plate D’Alfonso from first.

Lehman suffered the loss. The right-hander allowed a personal season-high five runs in seven and two-thirds innings of work. He walked one and struck out three. Tony Chisman punched out the only man he faced and Kyle Davis tossed a perfect ninth frame.
Casey Harman notched the win for Vermont. The southpaw gave up three runs in seven innings, walking three and striking out four. Dusty Odenbach earned a two-inning save, with five of the final six outs being recorded via the strikeouts.


***Box scores available at necbl.com


Notes…Sanford is now 11-10 all-time in the playoffs, including a 1-3 record against Vermont... Attendance Saturday night at Goodall Park was 498…The Mainers try to keep their season alive Sunday night at Recreation Field in Vermont. First pitch is slated for 6:30. Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com.