Error-plagued Mountaineers fall, 10-2

Pat Madigan connects on a two-run homer in the second.
Photo by Alex Clark/TA

The Vermont Mountaineers took a 2-0 lead into the third inning Saturday night with the team’s early season ace of the staff dealing on the mound, yet were left dazed after a disastrous inning that snowballed into a 10-2 rout at the hands of Laconia.

Vermont (5-6) dropped its third straight game, with each loss featuring an inning that melted down after multiple errors. On Thursday, it was a six-run first in an 8-4 loss to North Adams. Friday, a five-run eighth powered by multiple errors broke open a close game in an 8-2 loss to Sanford.

On Saturday, the explanation was similar. Vermont starter Casey Brown recorded two quick outs in the third but it quickly took a turn for a worse, as 36 minutes later Laconia (7-4) had pushed across seven runs thanks to a series of defensive miscues.

Left fielder Austin Clemons, battling the sun, dropped a pair of fly balls following a walk to bring home a run. Braxton Martinez poked a single down the first base line past a diving Simon Rosenbaum to score another, and Cameron Hanley and Jordan Simpson added back-to-back RBI singles.

Ron Farley lined a seeing-eye single through the left side, and was caught off of second. However, Mountaineers second baseman Thomas Roulis rushed his throw home when Simpson broke for the plate and it skipped to the backstop for another run. Farley made his way home on another rundown later in the inning, as Vinny DeMaria was tagged out after he slid into home.

It sucked the momentum out of Vermont, which had entered the top of the third up 2-0 after newcomer Pat Madigan deposited an 0-2 pitch from Tim Viehoff into the parking lot beyond left field. Madigan’s home run was all the offense the Mountaineers could generate, as they were held to four hits.

Viehoff, the NECBL’s Pitcher of the Week in the opening week, made a lone mistake over six innings of work. He struck out six, with both runs unearned after an error to leadoff the inning. He maintained his perfect 0.00 ERA through his first 19 innings of the summer, racking up 24 strikeouts and just eight walks.

Brown made his shortest start of the summer, needing 63 pitches before leaving with an injury with two outs in the second. After a sharply hit ball bounced off of his glove, Brown came up limping after sprinting to field the slow-rolling ball. He wasn’t helped by his defense, as he threw 30-plus pitches after retiring the first two he faced in the second.

Brown gave up seven runs on seven hits, but none were earned. Northfield high school graduate Billy Whaley went 4.1 innings in relief, allowing three runs, two earned.

Muskrats catcher Deon Stafford lined a RBI double down the left field line in the fourth, and came home after a misplay in center field from Jack Parenty. Whaley worked into trouble in the seventh as well, issuing a bases-loaded walk with one out.

Laconia’s trio of relievers — Mike Gentile, Max Bruckner and Lewis Spangler — set down all nine Mountaineers they faced.

Vermont has piled up 11 errors in the three-game skid, dropping the Mountaineers below .500 and two games out of first place in the Northern Division standings. Laconia, meanwhile, has won back-to-back games and lead the division.

The Mountaineers look to get back on track against North Adams on the road today at 4:30 p.m. SteepleCats right-hander Dakota Edwards threw the 11th no-hitter in NECBL history Saturday, pushing North Adams to a 7-5 record as they sit just a half game out of first.