Rivera came on in the eighth and got the first out, but gave up a single to Laconia's Joe Torres and followed by hitting New Bedford's Carl Anderson. With runners on first and second with one out, Mystic's Tyler Boyd smacked a single to right. An offline throw to the plate allowed Torres to scamper home for what turned out to be the winning run.
"It was a great feeling scoring that run. Probably the greatest feeling of all summer, maybe even all year," Torres said. "I'm going to remember this one forever that's for sure."
The hometown hero received a huge ovation from the 1,012 fans that made it out to Robbie Mills Field when it was announced that he won the All-Star Game MVP.
"The crowd gave me a boost of adrenaline that's for sure. It's really exciting playing in front of a home crowd and I knew it was going to be a great night, not just because the fans would be cheering but I never imagined I would win MVP, it just feels amazing."
The game started off with the Eastern starter, Laconia's Will Blalock, running into some trouble. With one out, North Adam's Joe Landi singled and moved to second on a groundout by Keene's Brian O'Grady. Keene's JP Sportman, one of the best hitters in the league this season, hit a double into the right-center gap to knock in Landi and give the West a 1-0 lead.
"I felt great out there, just trying to have fun and put good wood on the ball. I got fortunate to get a pitch I could drive and I did," Sportman commented on his strong start. " I felt pretty good. You can't ask for much more because I put a good swing on it and it felt great."
John Miles, the Vermont ace, started the game for the West and ended on a good note, striking out Ocean State's Michael Gerber to end a scoreless first.
Miles afterwards on his game, "It was great. I tried not to think about it too much but its always nice to have scouts watching," and striking out Gerber was, "A good way to set the tone for the rest of the game, and we played good ball the whole game. It was just a good way to cap off my outing."
The West threatened in the second, loading the bases with just one out, but Newport pitcher Brett Graves set down the next two to escape the jam.
It wasn't until the third when the East got on the board. Sanford's Troy Black started off with a single against Holyoke pitcher Michael Burke. Burke retired the next two in a row, with Black swiping second in the process. Gerber singled, and with runners on second and third, Newport third baseman Joel McKeithan knocked in Black with a RBI single to tie it up at 1-1.
The game fell into a steady flow after that, with the West pitches setting down 11 straight after McKeithan's single. It wasn't until the bottom of the eighth when Torres scored the game-winning run that the East finally pushed another run across. The East threatened a couple of times, but not as much as the West, which left 11 runners in scoring position.
In the seventh inning, the Western squad put runners on first and second with one out, but couldn't make anything of it. The next inning, they led off with a single and and a walk but also couldn't make anything of it. Two straight outs, and then a steal put runners on first and third, but Keene's Dylan Moore grounded out to end the threat.
Up 2-1 going into the ninth, Rice came sprinting out to go for the save. He struck out two, including a game-ending strikeout.
"I was pushing the guys earlier, give me a lead and hopefully I can come in for the save," said Rice. "We ended up scoring in that eighth inning and everyone came up to me and started joking around and telling me not to blow it," after Torres scored, "That made me nervous but its awesome. I love coming out here with this kind of talent. It's just an unbelievable experience and I'll put it in my back pocket and use it later."
A great day of festivities also featured Sanford's Nate LaPointe winning the home run derby with 10 in the first two rounds and a walkoff in the championship round. Newport's Cody Jones won the 60-yard dash, posting a 6.5 time.
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