Mainers Sweep Bats, Now with Chance to Party Like It’s 2004
 Sanford hangs on 6-5 against Keene, will host Newport Saturday night.

Sanford, ME – The Mainers saw their once six-run cushion diminish down to one in the late innings, but by the skin of their teeth held on to edge the Keene Swamp Bats 6-5 in the second game of a series sweep Friday night at Alumni Field. Jason Bowman was brilliant in the first seven frames, at one point setting down 19 straight hitters. The right-hander fell into some trouble in the eighth, allowing five runs before turning it over to Ryan Cole in the ninth. And for his second straight appearance, Cole closed out a series with a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning to send the Mainers to the championship. Their opponents will be the Newport Gulls in a rematch of the 2004 Series, when Sanford won its first and only NECBL Championship.
The Mainers jumped on top early in the first. After loading the bases with nobody out against starter Sean Tierney, Branson Joseph hit a fly ball to right caught by Casey McGrew. However, it was deep enough to score Klint Reed from third and give the Mainers a 1-0 advantage.

It would stay 1-0 until the top of the fifth. Corey Hunt shot a single through the left side leading off the frame. After a Reed sacrifice bunt, Hunt moved to third in the next at-bat on a wild pitch. Matt Nandin flew out to shallow right, with Hunt holding at third. Anthony D’Alfonso then hit a sharp grounder under the glove of second baseman Chris Tremblay for a run-scoring error plating Hunt.

Sanford would get what proved to be much-needed insurance in the seventh. With two outs and runners at first and second, Joseph ripped a single down the left field line, bringing Reed to the plate. Devin Harris came to the plate. For the second straight game in this series, the right-handed hitting slugger belted a long homer to right-center to extend the Mainers lead, this time to 6-0.

Keene would creep within one in the eighth. With two outs and two on, Evan Chambers and Cliff Hicks delivered back-to-back RBI bloop singles to get the Swamp Bats on the board. Alex Lee came to the plate and blasted a three-run homer to straightaway center to bring Keene within the slimmest of margins. Cole came on in the ninth and induced a leadoff groundout, before punching out pinch-hitters Josh Chester and Danny Petro to end the game.

Bowman fired his second longest outing of the year, hurling eight innings and allowing five runs, walking none and striking out a summer-high nine. Cole earned his second postseason save. Tierney lasted seven innings and gave up six runs on 11 hits in a losing effort.


***Box scores available at necbl.com


Notes… Sanford has now beaten Keene three out of five times in postseason series matchups… The Mainers are now 6-5 all-time in the postseason against Keene… Cole has struck out five of the six batters he’s seen in the playoffs… The Mainers bring the championship series back to Goodall Park Saturday night. First pitch is slated for 6:30 Audio and video streaming are both available at sanfordmainers.com.