Game 19 Recap: Mountaineers 3, Swamp Bats 1

Vermont's won four straight at home and sit at 6-13 on the year. 

In a dramatic, back-and-forth affair, it came down to one crucial play.

Keene catcher Evan McFarland’s throw sailed to the bullpen down the right field line after fielding Ryan Fireman’s bunt attempt in the bottom of the eighth, allowing Keegan Meyn to race all the way around from second to score. A batter later, Fireman beat out a throw from third on a sacrifice fly from Trevor Ezell, and Vermont came away with a 3-1 victory, their fourth straight at home.

“We’re playing good baseball right now,” Mountaineers manager Joe Brown said. “We’re swinging the bats well. We’re playing very good defense and the three pitchers we had tonight pitched great, they only gave up one run and got out of some tough situations.”

Vermont jumped ahead as fast as they could, taking an early 1-0 lead in the bottom half of the first. Trevor Ezell, who’s provided a jolt since arriving in Montpelier six games ago, drew a leadoff walk. He moved to second on a wild pitch from Swamp Bats starter Andrew O’Brien, then took third on a passed ball. Vermont’s Mikael Mogues drove him in a batter later, launching a deep sacrifice fly to center field that brought Ezell in without a throw.

Backed by an excellent defense, O”Brien quickly settled down and turned in his best start of the summer. He went a season-high seven innings, scattering four hits and two walks while striking out two. O’Brien ran into trouble throughout the night, but his defense helped him out of it. Catcher Evan McFarland threw out two would-be basestealers and an inning-ending double play in the sixth left the go-ahead run stranded at third base.

The Swamp Bats avoided giving O’Brien a tough-luck loss, but they struggled to convert their chances against Vermont. Mountaineers starter Joe Rocchietti also had a strong defense behind him, allowing him to work out of several jams. He used a double play to escape a first-and-third threat in the second, but was chased in fifth. After giving up a pair of singles, he left with runners on the corners.

Reliever Joe Jacques, his college teammate at Manhattan entered, and gave up a game-tying infield single to Brandt Stallings. Another run would’ve scored, but Mountaineers shortstop Mike Osinski made an excellent diving stop to hold it to one run. A few pitches later, Osinski snagged a line drive up the middle to end the inning.

Jacques ran into trouble an inning later and was pulled with two runners in scoring position. Vermont turned to Chandler Sedat, who induced an inning-ending groundout to escape the jam. He rolled through three more shutout innings in an excellent relief outing, running his scoreless innings streak to 13 to open the summer. Sedat struck out five and didn’t allow a hit.

“He’s been awesome,” Brown said of the right-hander. “He’s well-rested, as are all of our pitchers. With our two off days, we should be ready for this stretch. We’ve been spending time on getting guys set up for this stretch.”

Keene reliever Taylor Goshen took the loss. He gave up a leadoff single to Keegan Meyn, who moved to second on his wild pitch. McFarland’s costly error and a sacrifice fly from Ezell resulted in two unearned runs being charged to the right-hander, who took his second loss in just his third appearance of the summer.

“Ryan’s thought process was about hitting to the right side and he executed a perfect bunt,” Brown said. “There was some miscommunication between the pitcher and the catcher and that’s why you put bunts down- things happen.”

“I think one of the best at bats was Trevor Ezell’s. He fought it off, fought it off, and then hit it to left field. That was huge.”

With two off days before their next home game, a Tuesday matchup against Sanford, the Mountaineers are in good position. Brown feels confident in his team moving forward, as Vermont has won four of their last six and are shaking off a slow start, sitting at 6-13 on the summer.

“Our schedule sets up well for us,” he said. “We just need to keep playing this kind of baseball, and I don’t think anybody is going to look forward to playing us if we hang in there.”