Game 5: Mountaineers at Blue Sox

The Mountaineers suffered an ugly loss against North Adams last night, 5-1, as the bullpen couldn't hold a 1-0 lead. Errors and mistakes proved costly to drop Vermont to .500 at 2-2 as they travel to Valley to take on the Blue Sox.

Vermont Mountaineers (2-2) at Valley Blue Sox (2-2)
Time/Place: 6:35 p.m./Mackenzie Stadium
Media: Teamline, 1240 WSKI
Pitching Matchup: Vermont LHP Ryan Davis (Le Moyne) vs. Valley RHP Zach Strecker (Kentucky)
Last games: Vermont lost 5-1 to North Adams, Valley lost 3-1 to Laconia
The Mountaineers send NECBL Pitcher of the Week Ryan Davis (left) to the mound and hope he can replicate his opening night performance. The 6-1 lefty from Le Moyne went six shutout innings against Laconia and gave up just three hits and one walk while striking out eight for one of the best pitching performances of the season.

Valley counters with Kentucky senior Zach Strecker, a 6-5 righthander who is making his first appearance of the season. He played in the Prospect League for the Slippery Rock Sliders last summer as a redshirt freshman and was named an all-star. He had a 2.31 ERA over nine starts with a 1.14 WHIP across 62 innings of work.
Hitters to fear: Valley 1B Charles Sikes (Savannah St), Vermont 1B Blake Tiberi (Louisville)
Sikes (left) has been great for the Blue Sox this year as he's hitting .467 through the first four games, a mark fourth in the league. He's picked up seven hits with three multi-hit games and has also drove in two runs and scored once. He torched Vermont on Saturday as he went 3-4 with a double.

The Mountaineers hitters have been struggling but Tiberi made good contact on the ball against North Adams and drove in Vermont's lone run. He's hitting .250 on the season and crushed a ball into the gap against the SteepleCats for a RBI double. It was almost a pair of RBIs but teammate Adam Picard was thrown out at the plate.

Outlook: Last night's game, to be completely honest, was brutal to watch after the fifth inning. The two-man Mountaineers bullpen were very wild and spoiled Evan Bell's start as errors and miscues allowed North Adams to pull away. The hitters couldn't get anything, either- they were out for 11 straight batters before a two-out walk in the ninth that didn't amount to anything. They're hitting just .195 as a team and need a big game to break out of their slump. They also just have a .298 on-base percentage and an awful .220 slugging as they've managed just two extra base hits as a team. The pitching is good but they lack depth as they're currently working with seven pitchers. The first four starters are excellent but are going to have to go very deep in games- something manager Joe Brown really needs from the defending pitcher of the week Davis against Valley tonight.