SteepleCats score six runs in first for 8-4 win over Vermont

The SteepleCats chased Vermont Mountaineers starter Garrison Banas from the game Thursday night without him recording an out en route to a six-run first frame. Banas (0-1) walked four of the five batters he faced and was lifted as North Adams snapped Vermont’s three-game winning streak, doubling them up in a 8-4 win.

Westfall this spring. He took a no-no
into the fourth inning, his last
inning of work.

A day after beating Danbury 10-1 on the strength of 14 hits, the Mountaineers didn’t record their first hit until the fourth inning. SteepleCats righthander Dalton Westfall, making his summer debut, scattered a lone run and three walks through four scoreless innings. Westfall worked in and out of trouble, including getting out of a one-out bases-loaded jam.

Despite entering with a .199 team average that ranked third to last in the NECBL, North Adams sent 10 batters to the plate to open the game in a six-run outburst. The SteepleCats only recorded a pair of hits in the inning, but set themselves up for the win after patiently drawing five walks. Errors also plagued Vermont, as a bad hop at shortstop that seemed tailor made for a double play prolonged the inning and another gifted the SteepleCats extra bases. The Mountaineers finished with four errors, combining for seven in the game.

A wild pitch brought home Parker Perez for the game’s first run, and two straight walks loaded the bases. After a mound visit, Banas walked in a run and was pulled for Vermont reliever Drew Lunde. Lunde got off to a shaky start as well, as he was greeted by a run-scoring single up the middle from Michael Babb and Chris Fornaci followed with a RBI groundout. After an intentional walk of North Adams’ number-eight hitter to set up the double play, No. 9 hitter Jim Haley powered a ball into the gap for a two-run double that stretched the lead to 6-0.

Banas was charged with five runs, just three earned. Lunde went five innings in a solid long relief, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out two. Babb added another RBI single and Fornaci swiped home on a double-steal that saw the throw down to second skip off the bag and into center field.

Westfall let up a run in the second, as Garrett Copeland worked his way into scoring position after drawing a leadoff walk and stealing second. Two groundouts later, Copeland came home after a RBI groundout from Austin Cangelosi. Copeland was starting at second in place of Thomas Roulis, the reigning NECBL Player of the Week, who didn’t play for the first time this season.

The Mountaineers were held scoreless until the seventh, when they pushed across two runs against reliever Jared Habershaw. Back-to-back singles and a walk loaded the bases for Riley Jackson with two outs, and the recent arrival lined a two-run single straight up the middle. However, outfielder Pat Madigan was caught off second on the play and chased down and tagged out.

Madigan made up for it with a two-out RBI single into left in the ninth against reliever Charles Bryson, but Bryson escaped a first-and-third jam to secure the win.

Vermont reliever Adam Seibert was a bright spot, as the righty struck out four straight after giving up an infield single to the first batter he faced. Seibert struck out six in just three innings of work, another key piece in the Mountaineers’ strong bullpen.

North Adams reliever Robbie Buffis (1-0) threw two perfect innings in relief.

The loss dropped Vermont (5-4) out of first after their first day atop the Northern Division this year. North Adams, meanwhile, improved to 6-4 and took over first. The Mountaineers travel to divisional rival Sanford (5-5) tonight.