Mainers big eighth breaks open close game in 8-2 win

Hughes with Monmouth this spring. /MU Photo

A pair of costly errors in the eighth by the Mountaineers broke open a close game as Sanford scored five runs and went on to a convincing 8-2 win that stretched the Mainers’ winning streak to three games.

Shaine Hughes went 4-for-5 with a home run in his return to the Mainers (6-5) lineup after a groin injury, and teammate Dalton Thomas launched a two-run blast of his own to hand Vermont (5-5) a second straight loss.

A night after giving up six runs in the first inning of an 8-4 loss to North Adams and committing four errors, Vermont fell apart in the eighth against its divisional rivals. The Mountaineers entered down by a lone run, but several mistakes cost them in the six-run loss.

After reliever Austin Foote issued a leadoff walk to Trae Sweeting, Dan Hetzel showed bunt before slashing a single through the right side. Mountaineers right fielder Pat Madigan’s throw missed the cut and sailed to the tarp on the third base line. Sweeting raced in to score from first and Hetzel made his way to third.

Foote got two outs after issuing an intentional walk to set up the force, but the runner moved to second after another missed cut. A bloop single from David Schanz brought in two more before Hughes knocked in two more on a single up the middle after a misplay in center by Jack Parenty.

Foote (0-1) was charged with the loss in relief as a solo shot from Hughes in the seventh broke the 2-2 tie. Just two of the six runs he gave up were earned, but three walks cost him. He had set down seven of the first nine he faced before running into trouble in the eighth.

The game opened as a pitchers duel between two starters from big D-I baseball schools. Sanford’s Joey Abraham (Vanderbilt) and Vermont’s Sean Leland (Louisville) exchanged scoreless innings until the Mainers got on the board in the third.

After giving up a two-out single to Hughes, Leland got ahead of Thomas with two quick strikes. However, his next pitch caught too much of the plate on and Thomas capitalized with a high, arcing homer over the left field fence for an early 2-0 lead.

Abraham, meanwhile, looked unhittable. After working out of a first and second jam in the second, the hard throwing righty set down seven straight, four on strikeouts. The Mountaineers’ Riley Jackson drew a one-out walk in the fifth and Devin Hariston followed with a single up the middle.

That set the stage for the red-hot Thomas Roulis (2for5), who knocked in a run with a double. Roulis stretched his hitting streak to a NECBL-best nine games, and is still hitting over .500. Parenty followed with a grounder to first where Hughes came home with it, but a nifty slide from Hariston tied it up.

Both starters received no-decisions. Leland went 4.2 innings, striking out four while not issuing a walk. Abraham struck out five over 4.1,walking two and giving up four hits. The difference was the bullpens as Sanford’s trio of Aaron Casper, Hayden Heflin and Iannick Remillard held Vermont scoreless.

Casper (1-0) retired all eight batters he faced, including getting out of an inherited second-and-third jam with just one out after Abraham was pulled. He struck out four to get the win.

Heflin walked back-to-back batters and was pulled in the seventh, but Remillard escaped and worked out of trouble in the ninth as well. The big, 230-pound closer stranded two runners in scoring position in both innings and struck out two.

Sanford jumped the Mountaineers in the standings with the win, improving to 6-5 after starting the year just 2-5.

Vermont returns home tonight, hosting the division-leading Laconia Muskrats (6-4).

The Muskrats probable starter is Tim Viehoff, who hasn’t allowed a run in 13 innings and has struck out 18 to start the summer. First pitch at 6:30 p.m.