Game 4 Recap: Mainers 2, Mountaineers 1

Monmouth's Chris Gaetano delivered the decisive blow, a walkoff home run in the 10th. /Monmouth

Vermont dropped their third straight game Monday night, falling in the bottom of the 10th inning as Sanford right fielder Chris Gaetano ended the game with a one-out, walk-off home run. Gaetano entered the game as a defensive replacement, and the home run came in his first at bat of the night. It's a frustrating trend for the Mountaineers, as all three losses have come due to the combination of a lack of offense and a bullpen that makes that one costly mistake. Here's a look at the last three games.

1 -- Winnipesaukee 5, Vermont 4. Mountaineers starter TJ Santiago strikes out six and allows a lone earned run over four innings, leaving with his team up 2-1. The Mountaineers stretch the lead to 4-2 through six, but reliever Morgan Maguire gives up three earned runs in 1 2/3 innings, and they fall on a walk-off single.

2 -- Upper Valley 6, Vermont 4. Mountaineers starter Joe Rocchietti gives up two runs, one earned, over four innings. He leaves with his team up 4-2, but that lead quickly disappears. Middle reliever Kevin Kernan gives up three earned runs over 2 2/3 innings and the Nighthawks tack on an insurance run late.

3 -- Sanford 2, Vermont 1. Vermont starter Joe Jacques has an impressive start, and middle reliever Chandler Sedat excels -- the duo go nine innings, striking out six and allowing just one run. The game's knotted up at one apiece in the bottom of the ninth and reliever Sean Callahan comes in. After inducing a leadoff groundout, Callahan surrenders a game-winning home run to Gaetano, clearing the trees in right field at Goodall Park. 

The common trend in these losses is that the pitching is strong -- they're fourth in ERA (2.31) -- but the bullpen has just made those few mistakes each game to take them away from a victory. Vermont's taken a lead into the seventh in half of their games, but they dropped both of those. Sedat and Benitez, two relievers, have combined to toss eight scoreless innings of work. 

To reiterate, it's not that the bullpen is bad, they've just had that one game-changing inning in each of these past three games. It's also the first time throwing in some time for quite a few of these guys, so it's not anything to worry about. Vermont has consistently been one of the best pitching teams in the league, and don't expect much to change.

Top Play (WPA)

To no surprise, the top play is Gaetano's solo home run to end the game (.404). He cleared the trees in right field, which is where, if I remember correctly, a majority of the home runs hit during last year's home run derby ended up. Gaetano is a returning NECBLer and hit just two home runs in 24 games with the Mainers last summer, finishing with a .261/.362/.377 slash line. He's 3-for-11 to start this summer, helping Sanford to a three-game winning streak.

Up Next

Vermont hopes to end the skid as they play host to Winnipesaukee tonight at 6:30. The Muskrats are 1-3 also, with their lone win coming against the Mountaineers.