Game 23 Recap: Mountaineers 5, Swamp Bats 0

CVU alum Rayne Supple (Wake Forest) threw four shutout innings in his first start of the summer.

There's no place like home for the Vermont Mountaineers, and that fact has become more and more evident the past few weeks.

The Mountaineers blanked division-leading Keene on Sunday night, 5-0, to win their seventh straight in the friendly confines of Recreation Field. Vermont is 4-1 to start July and haven't lost at home since June 22nd.  Rayne Supple and Kevin Kernan combined to throw a two-hitter, Will Morgan went 3-for-4 and five different Mountaineers recorded RBIs in a solid all-around effort.

"We're playing good baseball," Vermont manager Joe Brown said. "This is a long season and we have faith in our pitching. It was well-rested, and you saw that. The defense was great and we had some big two-out hitting."

"If you get four or five runs with your arms right now, you should be able to maitain and hold it. As long as there's not errors behind you."

Errors and blowing late leads cost the Mountaineers early in the season, but they've largely avoided that troubling trend lately. Seven of their last 10 games have featured either one error or none, and that's led to a 7-3 stretch that puts them squarely in contention in the Northern Division.

Since starting the year 2-11, Vermont has pulled within 3 1/2 games of first-place Keene, and sit just three games out of the fourth playoff spot in the division. They've been one of the best teams in the division over the past two weeks, with the Valley Blue Sox and North Adams SteepleCats mired in losing streaks.

They face a big test tonight, hosting the red-hot Sanford Mainers (14-12) in a huge game for momentum. Since Vermont beat the Mainers last Tuesday at home, Sanford has won five straight — including a convincing 7-1 win over the Mountaineers at Goodall Park.

Vermont sends ace Jonathan Stiever to the mound, who'll have the chance to not only win a pivotal divisional game but also make his case for the All-Star Final Vote. Stiever is 0-1 with a 1.52 ERA over five appearances, three starts.

He set down the Mainers in order last Tuesday, throwing a scoreless inning of relief with a strikeout. It'll be his first start since June 21st, when he recorded his only decision of the season, a loss to New Bedford.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Vermont bats go to work early: The Mountaineers offense provided an early cushion for Supple in the bottom of the first. Joe Tietjen reached on a one-out fielding error, moved to second on a groundout and scored from second on a hard-hit RBI single up the middle from Mike Osinski. It was the second straight game Vermont jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first. With that lead in hand, Supple and Kernan limited the Swamp Bats to just two hits and didn't need any additional run support.

Supple solid in first start: Making his first start of the summer, Supple built off his excellent 1-2-3 relief outing the other night against Sanford, in which he struck out all three batters he faced. His pitch count was a problem, needing 78 pitches to complete four innings. Still, the hard-throwing right-hander looked impressive.

He struck out two of the first three batters he faced, fanning three on the night. Supple walked three in the second to load the bases, but induced an inning-ending pop-up that he drifted over and caught in foul territory to escape the jam. He stranded runners at third and at second over the next two innings, leaving five runners on base in the one-hit outing.

Kernan excellent in relief: After Supple left after four, Kernan stepped up, in a big way. He needed just over 40 pitches to throw five shutout innings, allowing just two baserunners to reach while striking out three. He stranded a hit batsmen in the seventh, then converted a double play to erase a leadoff single in the eighth.

"Kevin Kernan was outstanding tonight in relief," Brown said. "That was a huge double play. If that got up the middle, there's guys on first and second with nobody out and it can turn into a 5-2 game."

Morgan heating up: After being sidelined with an injury for a brief stretch, designated hitter Will Morgan is heating up. He went 3-for-4 with a trio of singles and a run scored, bumping his average up to .300 in 12 games and 40 at bats. After going 0-for-6 over his last two games, Morgan picked up his third multi-hit game on the season. He missed a week of action earlier this summer.

Contributions up and down the lineup: On a night where All-Star first basemen Mikael Mogues went 0-for-4 (still recording a RBI on a misplayed groundout in the seventh), several players stepped up. No. 9 hitter Jeremy Giles drove in a run with a RBI double in the second and laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt in the fourth and Slade Heggen brought in a run with a sacrifice fly out of the eight hole.