Game 8 Recap: Blue Sox 7, Mountaineers 3

The defending New England Collegiate Baseball League champions are in a historic tailspin.

The Vermont Mountaineers dropped their seventh straight game, 7-3, to the visiting Valley Blue Sox Friday night. After winning their season opener, the Mountaineers have embarked on a lengthy losing streak . With just one win through their first eight games, it’s the worst start to a season in franchise history.

The stretch began with a 5-4 loss to the Winnipesaukee Muskrats last Friday, as the Mountaineers squandered a two-run lead in the late innings. It has spanned the last six games. On Friday, a single play was the beginning of the end for Vermont.

With one out in the fourth inning, Mountaineers starter TJ Santiago had already allowed a sacrifice fly, and there was runners on the corners for Valley’s No. 9 hitter, Kyle Mottice. Mottice hit a dribbler to the left side, and Santiago picked it up ... and sailed the throw over first basemen Ryan Fineman’s head. It rolled and rolled, allowing Mottice to circle the bases for the Little League inside-the-park three-run home run.

For Santiago, who struck out seven and retired five straight to end his outing, it was a letdown. Vermont has had reliable starting pitching throughout this skid, and Santiago was cruising with a one-run lead. He’d worked out of a second-inning jam with a pair of strikeouts, but his one overthrow proved costly.

Trailing 4-1, Vermont rallied against Blue Sox starter Trent Astle, who was making his summer debut. They chased Astle with the bases loaded in the sixth. Pinch-hitter Mikael Mogues greeted reliever Shane Ennis rudely, lining a ball off of his glove for an infield RBI single. Catcher Zeke Pinkham, a late arrival, followed with a run-scoring fielder choice. Ennis beared down, however, stranding the tying run at third base.

Vermont reliever Sean Callahan, who threw an inning-plus, gave up a leadoff double to Erik Ostberg in the eighth. Newcomer Sam Bordner, a towering right-hander from Louisville, entered. Bordner gave up RBI doubles to Kipp Moore and Jacen Naliesnik, then surrendered another run in the ninth.

Valley shortstop Travis Jones hit his third home run of the summer off of Bordner with one out in the ninth, crushing one into the parking lot beyond the left field fence. Jones finished 2 for 5 and is hitting .400 for the Blue Sox. Naliesnik had three hits on the night, while Jones was joined by Moore and Ostberg with multi-hit games.

Astle allowed five hits in 5.0 innings, striking out one and walking a pair to earn the win. Ennis and the Blue Sox bullpen locked it down. Valley’s Liam Carter, Tyler Smith, and Blake Wellman each worked a scoreless inning of relief.

Carter ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh, as a dropped third strike, a throwing error, and a sacrifice bunt put the tying run 90 feet away. Carter got a strikeout and a flyout to right, however, to keep the Blue Sox up by one at the time.

Santiago took the loss, allowing four runs on five hits over 5.0 innings.

Vermont’s first run came in the third, when newcomer Joe Tietjen knocked a RBI triple to the 340-foot marker in the right-center gap.

They’ll get a much needed day off after five games in five days, and return to action on the road Sunday. They’ll travel to face Winnipesaukee at 6:05 p.m.