Game 41 Recap: SteepleCats 4, Mountaineers 3

Michael Fairchild hurled a complete game, but was a tough-luck loser thanks to five Vermont errors.

In a flashback to the shaky start to the season for the Mountaineers, Vermont struggled with runners in scoring position and had errors come back to haunt them in a disappointing 4-3 loss at the hands of the visiting North Adams SteepleCats Saturday night.

With the bases loaded for the SteepleCats in the fifth in a tied game, Mountaineers left fielder Keegan Meyn misplayed the bounce on a run-scoring single, then airmailed a throw into the North Adams bullpen attempting to catch a runner taking third. Both errors brought in runs on a three-run play, and the SteepleCats built a 4-1 lead that would hold up against a Vermont rally.

The loss, Vermont’s fifth of the season at the hands of North Adams, dropped the team into a three-way tie for the fourth playoff spot in the Northern Division. Currently jockeying with Upper Valley, Winnipesaukee, and Keene in a race to the postseason, Vermont’s fifth straight loss at home allowed the Muskrats and Nighthawks to pull even. Winnipesaukee knocked off Valley, 5-3, while Upper Valley had the night off.

The loss makes things more difficult for Joe Brown’s club. Instead of entering their final three games alone in fourth, Vermont is now stuck in a three-way tie. The Mountaineers, Muskrats, and Nighthawks all have three games remaining, with Vermont and Upper Valley squaring off in a doubleheader on Monday. It’s a tremendously close division, and this level of parity has made for intense competition down the stretch.

Vermont jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning, as Trevor Ezell drew a leadoff walk against SteepleCats ace Braxton Wilks and came around to score on Mikael Mogues’ single. It was all they would manage against Wilks, however, who worked in and out of trouble.

The All-Star southpaw walked seven and gave up four hits in five innings of work, but came away with his NECBL-best seventh win of the summer. Vermont loaded the bases with nobody out in the third, but Wilks induced a pop-up then struck out Will Morgan and Meyn back-to-back.

Vermont starter Michael Fairchild worked around several jams, but ran into trouble in the fifth. A double, a hit batsmen and a single loaded the bases, setting up Meyn’s blunder. Fairchild rallied to go four more strong innings, turning in a complete-game effort. The right-hander went a season-high nine innings, scattering eight hits and a walk while striking out four. He was a tough-luck loser, as a shaky Mountaineers defense committed five errors behind him.

Fairchild’s strong rest of the game enabled the Mountaineers to work back into it against the SteepleCats bullpen, though. Catcher Ryan Fineman greeted reliever Josh Simpson with a one-out home run to left field in the sixth, launching a shot that was easily gone off the bat. A costly passed ball from SteepleCats catcher John Mazza allowed another run to come across against Simpson, as Trevor Ezell scored third and alertly swiped home as well when Mazza couldn’t locate the ball at his feet.

However, the SteepleCats hunkered down. Andrew Camiolo worked around a one-out single in the seventh with a pair of strikeouts, and right-hander Brian Stepniak threw two scoreless innings. He gave up a two-out double in the ninth, but induced a game-ending flyout from Meyn. There was miscommunication between two SteepleCats, but left fielder Nick Riotto made a diving catch to end the game.

The loss dropped Vermont to 18-23. North Adams jumped into the second spot in the Northern standings after Valley dropped a doubleheader, improving to 23-19.

Game 40 Recap: Mountaineers 10, Muskrats 4

TJ Santiago went 7 2/3 in the win, his fourth straight start of 5+ IP. 

Spotless defense, strong hitting, and good pitching. Seems like a pretty straightforward recipe for success, and that’s the complete team effort the Vermont Mountaineers turned in on Friday night, rolling to a 10-4 win over the Winnipesaukee Muskrats to take over sole possession of the fourth and final playoff spot.

The Mountaineers piled up 15 hits, breaking out of a recent mini-slump that saw them enter last  night’s slugfest having scored just seven runs in their previous four games combined. Starter TJ Santiago continued to establish himself as one of the team’s most reliable pitchers, allowing three runs over seven-plus innings in his fourth straight of at least five innings.

Will Morgan went 4-for-5 with a two-run home run, Jeremy Giles had a two-run shot of his own, and Slade Heggen, Michael Osinski, and Mikael Mogues all turned in multi-hit efforts. Entering the ninth with a three-run lead, Vermont broke it open, scoring four runs against a pair of Muskrats relievers.

The win was pivotal for Vermont, who improved to 18-22 and put a game between themselves and the Muskrats. Upper Valley knocked off Valley, however, keeping pace and pulling a half-game within the Mountaineers. Monday’s doubleheader between the league’s two Vermont franchises will potentially be huge.

Vermont built a 6-3 lead and it appeared it would hold up behind Santiago and reliever Chandler Sedat, but the Mountaineers offense added some for good measure. Osinski, Morgan, and Heggen all had RBI singles, while Heggen came around to score his third run of the game on a wild pitch.

The Mountaineers jumped ahead 3-0 early, with leadoff hitter Trevor Ezell singling and coming around to score on a Mogues RBI single in the first. A costly fielding error, one of four on the day for the league’s best defense, set up Giles two-run home run.

Winnipesaukee answered in the second against Santiago, as Michael Alescio singled in a run, but Vermont stayed ahead. Joe Tietjen brought in a run with a single in the fourth, and the Muskrats Ryan Stekl hit a solo shot to answer in the bottom of the frame.

Muskrats starter Cain Spangler, making his first start after serving as a closer for much of the season, began to labor in the late innings. He worked a 1-2-3 sixth with three groundouts, but walked Mogues in the seventh and was chased when Morgan launched a two-run shot.

Spangler took the loss, allowing six runs, three earned, on 11 hits and a walk. He struck out six over 6 1/3.

Santiago eventually left with two outs in the eighth after giving up his second home run of the game, a solo shot to Anthony Maselli. Sedat gave up a run on a fielders choice in the ninth, but it was too little, too late for Winnipesaukee.

Santiago got the win, allowing three runs on seven hits with two walks, striking out nine. Sedat threw 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing a run while striking out one.

Vermont returns to action tonight, hosting the North Adams SteepleCats. The SteepleCats, in the three-spot, were dealt a tough, 13-inning loss to Sanford. North Adams took an 8-2 lead into the ninth, but Sanford rallied for six runs to tie, then won in the 13th on an infield single.

North Adams shut out Vermont, 10-0, on Tuesday. The SteepleCats are a perfect 4-0 against the Mountaineers this summer, and they’re looking to finish off the season sweep.

Game 39 Recap: Blue Sox 5, Mountaineers 3

Joe Rocchietti (2) retired the first 11 batters he faced, but a costly error derailed a strong start.

Pitching for the first time in eight days, Vermont right-hander Joe Rocchietti retired the first 11 Valley Blue Sox he faced, allowing just one ball to escape the infield as he was cruising. In an unfortunate flashback to the start of the season, errors did him in.

With the Mountaineers up 2-0, Rocchietti induced a two-out groundball to third, but a bad throw proved costly. It allowed Hezekiah Randolph to coast into second, and he scored a batter later on a single from Erik Ostberg. Rocchietti was touched up for three more runs, two earned, and left after five innings in Vermont’s fourth straight loss, a disappointing 5-3 decision at the hands of the Blue Sox.

It dropped the Mountaineers into a tie for the fourth playoff spot with Winnipesaukee, also 17-22, and the two teams meet in a pivotal game tonight. Vermont will look to shake off their recent offensive struggles, as the normally potent offense has been held to three runs or less in all four games of this losing streak, a far cry from the 10-1 drubbing they put on Ocean State under a week ago.

Upper Valley lurks in fifth, just a half-game back of the two teams. Keene is only a game back but faces a steep uphill battle with a difficult schedule looming. It’s an incredible level of parity, and it sets up a tight finish in the Northern Division.

Vermont backed Rocchetti early, getting to Blue Sox starter Travis Booth in the third inning. Booth, who gave up three hits and two walks with three strikeouts over four innings, struggled to keep Mountaineers off the bases. The leadoff hitter reached against him in three of his four frames, but he managed to work out of a few jams.


He gave up a bloop RBI single to Michael Osinski and issued a bases-loaded walk to Slade Heggen, but managed to induce a double play to escape the threat. The Mountaineers were held in check after that, stranding runners in scoring position twice and even having a runner thrown out trying to steal.

Will Morgan managed a RBI groundout in the eighth against Valley reliever Liam Carter, but Blue Sox closer Sam Donko shut the door. He worked around a two-out single, getting Joe Tietjen to go down swinging to close out his fifth save of the summer. Luke Crabb bridged the gap to the middle innings, scattering two hits while striking out four in three scoreless innings of relief.

Rocchietti was at just 33 pitches with two outs in the fourth, but the costly error got him out of the groove. He gave up a two-run double to Kyle Mottice in the fifth after giving up a pair of hits and exited after the leadoff hitter reached against him in the fifth.

Reliever Kevin Kernan allowed the inherited runner to score on a RBI single from Kipp Moore, then gave up a run-scoring double to Randolph. He settled down after Randolph’s hit, however, retiring the final five batters he faced. He struck out six and scattered four hits over three innings of relief.

Today, the Mountaineers look to start something new. The offense has been in a brief funk, as the usual characters are struggling mightily. Over the last five games, the team is hitting just .224, with a majority of the hits coming from guys who were quiet early. Tietjen (.190), Keegan Meyn (0-for-10), and Mikael Mogues (.133) have all slowed down.

A week ago, they were one game under .500 and looking like they were going to start to pull away and easily take the fourth playoff spot. That was before a four-game losing streak that has made this final four-day stretch a tough one for Vermont. With five games, four of which are away, the Mountaineers need to hunker down. Every win counts at this point, and it starts with tonight’s game in Winnipesaukee. First pitch at 6:05 p.m.

Game 37+38 Recap: Mountaineers swept in home doubleheader

Vermont's Mikael Mogues can't reel in a throw in the first game of the doubleheader.

A week ago, I wrote a story about the three-way race for the fourth playoff spot in the Northern Division, looking at Vermont, Winnipesaukee, and Keene. I didn’t even mention the Upper Valley Nighthawks, who were 2 1/2 games back out of the three-team tie. The Nighthawks have since responded by winning three of four, the lone loss coming to the second-place Valley Blue Sox.

Upper Valley has pulled into a tie for fifth with Winnipesaukee, sitting just a half game back of the Vermont Mountaineers. Keene is a half game back of both of them, having dropped four in a row.

The Mountaineers have made the playoffs for five straight years and won the Northern Division each of the past two summers. This season began a forgetful 2-11 start, and Vermont is still shaking off the rust. They were swept in back-to-back nine inning games Tuesday night, losing an uncovential doubleheader to Upper Valley and North Adams. Vermont still holds a playoff spot, but they’re clinging to it. The in-state rival Nighthawks are closing fast.

Game 1: Upper Valley 6, Vermont 3

Upper Valley pitcher-turned-catcher Brian Lau drilled a solo home run with one out in the ninth inning, and a costly error led to a two-run shot from Al Molina three batters later as the Nighthawks came away with a 6-3 win in a rare day game.

Lau, a catcher with Saint Joseph’s, entered Tuesday having thrown 12 2/3 innings with the Nighthawks, and was just 1-for-12 (.083) in limited action in the lineup. Facing Mountaineers reliever Christian Isbell, Lau took the first pitch he saw and deposited it over the fence in left. Molina followed with a two-run home run of his own, capping a back-and-forth game between two evenly matched squads.

The star of the day was arguably Upper Valley reliever Nick Jones, a sidearming right-hander who threw five scoreless innings in his longest outing of the summer. Jones scattered three hits and a walk, striking out three in his 19th appearance for the Nighthawks. Lowering his ERA to 0.68 over almost 27 innings, Jones has established himself as one of the league’s best relievers, going 2-2 with four saves.

Vermont jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third against Nighthawks starter Houston Mabray via a sacrifice fly from Joe Tietjen, but it proved to be short-lived. Upper Valley struck for two runs against Vermont’s Jonathan Stiever in the fourth, as James Morisano lined a RBI single and Charlie Concannon tripled.

The Nighthawks added a run on a RBI single from Molina in the fourth, but Vermont answered both times. Ryan Fineman had a RBI single in the third, and Trevor Ezell drew a walk and eventually came around to score on an error by the third basemen. With two runners on and nobody out, the Mountaineers were threatening for more, but Jones entered and quickly recorded three outs. He set down eight of the first nine he faced in relief.

Isbell worked out of trouble when he replaced Stiever with two runners on and nobody out in the seventh. Stiever tied his longest start of the summer, allowing three runs on seven hits, two walks, and four strikeouts. Isbell worked a 1-2-3 eighth, but gave up three runs in the final frame.

Vermont put two runners on against Jones in the ninth via back-to-back singles from Fineman and Daniel Little, but stranded both after two strikeouts looking.

Game 2: North Adams 10, Vermont 0

A blowout loss followed in the nightcap, as the Mountaineers mustered just two hits and North Adams continued to roll, winning their fourth straight game behind a 15-hit attack. Batters two-through-six in the SteepleCats lineup enjoyed strong days, led by third basemen C.J. Price, who went 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs.

Four North Adams pitchers combined to hurl a two-hitter, with starter Ben Olson going five scoreless innings without allowing a hit. Reliever Josh Simpson lost the no-hit bid in the seventh, as pinch-hitter Davis Feldman led off the frame with a single to right field. It was Feldman’s first hit of the season in 13 at bats as the Eastern Michigan product is a member of the Mountaineers pitching staff.

The Vermont duo of Sean Callahan and Rayne Supple combined to allow 10 runs, seven earned, in the loss. Callahan gave up nine hits and six runs over 4 1/3, while Supple was tagged for six and four over 4 2/3. Supple retired eight of the final nine batters he faced, a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing day.

Not Adams jumped ahead 2-0 in the second behind a sacrifice fly from Kyle Brennan and Nick Riotto. A two-base error on Vermont first basemen Mikael Mogues brought in a run in the third, and the SteepleCats chased Callahan in the fifth.

The first three runners reached against him on singles, loading the bases for Price. Vermont manager Joe Brown went to his bullpen, and Supple was greeted rudely by Price, who doubled in a pair of runs. John Mazza and Brennan followed with RBI singles, pushing the lead to seven.

They finished off the scoring on a RBI single from Noah Vaugan, a double from Price, and a productive groundout from leadoff hitter Daniel Holst.

Olson got the win, issuing a lone walk and striking out three. Simpson, Jared Habershaw, and Andrew Camiolo combined to throw four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and a walk while striking out one.

Vermont’s other hit was by Daniel Little, but he was erased via a 6-4-3 double play. Vermont grounded into three double plays and didn’t have a runner reach third in the shutout loss, their first of the summer.

Grueling schedule for boys of summer

Brown has been the Mountaineers manager for four summers now, and previously spent two years in Sanford.

If you look at the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s transaction logs, they’re crowded with releases and acquisitions as teams across the league are scrambling to fill rosters to make postseason runs. Top pitchers are shut down, and teams are left struggling to look for any talent they can. It’s a troubling trend across summer leagues, and no man is better suited to explain it than Vermont manager and SUNY-Cortland head coach Joe Brown, who’s in his fourth year with the Mountaineers and sixth in the league.

Having coached in 2006 and 2008 with the Sanford Mainers, Brown has seen plenty of change across the league, including a decrease in the pitching talent as well as the domino effect that a longer spring season, too many leagues and a lengthy summer schedule have caused.

“It’s two parts,” Brown said while sitting in his dugout a few hours before a game. “There’s too many leagues and too long a schedule. Twenty years ago, it wouldn’t have been a problem. Omaha (the D-I championship) was done at the start of June, and now they’re going to July.”

With some of the top talent playing with their college teams through the first half of the NECBL season, it’s hard to get some of the mid-level players that now spend extended time in the Cape Cod League that features elite college players. The Cape used to sign players to 10-day temporary contracts, then released them when players from the top Division I programs arrived. Now, however, they’re playing a month in the Cape and will often go home instead of joining a league like the NECBL.

Brown and Mountaineers general manager Brian Gallagher were able to secure four players from the Cape, a noticeable haul in a league that has had its fair share of problems with filling rosters over the past year. Keeping a close eye on the transactions log, the duo signed catcher Slade Heggen and All-Star outfielder Joe Tietjen a day apart midway through June. The Mountaineers added second basemen Trevor Ezell and right-hander Michael Fairchild at the end of the month. All four players have had played pivotal roles on the team, as the three position players are everyday starters and Fairchild went seven-plus innings in his last start.

Still, the change in the temporary contracts has been a big problem for NECBL teams, and it’s directly related to the college season. The D-I baseball tournament ended June 30 this year, compared to 15 years ago when the final was played June 16. That two-week difference is huge for summer collegiate leagues, and it’s made it hard for leagues like the NECBL to find players. For Brown, it’s frustrating as the league has yet to address the problem.

“What’s the No. 1 resource for the league?” Brown asked rhetorically, then answered emphatically. “Players. The No. 1 resource is players, and if you have constant turnover with the roster, then that’s an issue. Address it. You either solve the problem or continually have the problem.”

Brown advocates for a shorter schedule, proposing that the league wrap up at the start of August instead of midway through the month. Cape players on temporary contracts are often just going home after a month because 20-plus games are enough for them, but the NECBL is still trying to play a 44-game schedule. For student-athletes from Southern areas whose schools start as early as Aug. 10th, it’s an easily noticeable problem.

“You have to take care of your vital resources,” Brown said. “You’re not coddling them, you’re adjusting based on the culture out there. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. If you’ve watched the league the last three or four years, that’s the issue. It’s the same thing.”

The Mountaineers went through almost 50 players last season, losing talent for a variety of reasons. The constant roster turnover is related to the schedule length, both in the spring and the summer, as well as the abundance of summer leagues. It’s grown from three or four to over 30 different leagues, resulting in a decrease in the talent pool. The decrease in pitching talent has been noticeable for Brown, who won a championship almost 10 years ago with the Sanford Mainers.

“There wasn’t a guy on my staff not throwing below 90 (miles per hour)”, Brown said. “That was because the college season wasn’t so long, so teams were sending out their best guys. You’re not getting all the best guys now, you’re getting redshirt freshmen who haven’t pitched much. Guys like Rayne Supple, (Christian) Isbell, and (Fitzpatrick) Stadler who need to develop after not logging many hours.”

Brown’s own pitchers at SUNY-Cortland have been in high demand. He received 10-plus phone calls and texts in the last week asking for pitchers on his staff, including inquiries from leagues such as the Valley League and Hamptons League. The same problem many NECBL teams face are abundant across the country, including in the Cape — the most well-known and established summer league in the country. Last summer, a few teams on the Cape in the playoff hunt had to resort to using pitchers in their starting batting order.

Facing this problem, Brown has managed his pitchers cautiously to ensure he’ll have enough pitchers down the stretch. If you look at how many innings his pitchers have thrown this summer, the highest is 29-plus and the lowest is 12-plus. He hasn’t leaned on one pitcher heavily and has been well aware of pitch counts and ensuring that nobody gets shut down early. Working with assistant coaches Keith Andrews and Austin Clock, Brown uses an Excel spreadsheet to map out his pitching moving forward, looking to match pitchers up with teams they haven’t faced yet to give them a slight edge. He cited the midway point of the season as when strategy truly comes into play, looking to find the little ways to gain an advantage.

And it’s worked, as Vermont entered Monday’s action with a pitching staff that leads the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio and FIP, or fielder-independent pitching, both categories that are darlings of the sabermetric crowd. With plenty of experience managing, Brown has been able to counter the pitching problems many teams have faced.

Division rival Keene saw staff ace Tommy Doyle, who started the NECBL All-Star Game, shut down for the rest of the season. They lost Doyle, who piled up 33 innings over five starts, and have since gone 1-4 and are currently in position to miss out on a playoff spot. A similar story has played out throughout the league, which is why Brown believes that anybody with rested arms will be able to win. Brown has worked to ensure he has rested pitching, using a different approach than a traditional rotation.

“A guy gets a start, then five days later he goes to the bullpen,” Brown said. “We made a commitment for guys to get starts and we’re honoring that, but not overworking anyone. That’s allowed kids like Joe Rocchietti and Jonathan Stiever to be healthy and strong now, otherwise they’d be going home two weeks ago.”

Brown’s Mountaineers are entering a pivotal stretch during the final week of the regular season as they cling to the fourth-and-final playoff berth in the Northern Division. Supported by pitching depth that many other teams lack, Vermont is in a position to make a run in the postseason. Following a final day off Wednesday, the Mountaineers are poised to make a final push in hopes of defending their 2015 title.

At the same time, other teams without much pitching continue to plummet.

Mastroianni a master of travel for past decade

Darin Mastroianni high fives teammate Ben Revere during an August 2012 game against the Boston Red Sox.
Getty Images

The journeyman is a perpetual fixture of Major League Baseball, and no player proves this better than Twins right fielder Darin Mastroianni.

Mastroianni, who played two years with the Vermont Mountaineers 10 years ago, has gone on to play for four different organizations over a nine-year professional career that has featured teams located in New Hampshire to Venezuela.

For Mastroianni, who’s played seven games with the Minnesota Twins this year but spent the majority of the season in Triple-A Rochester, it has been tough.

“It isn’t fun and I don’t enjoy it at all,” Mastroianni said of moving around a lot. “It’s just part of the job description.”

Currently with the Twins organization, Mastroianni is finding success with Rochester in his fourth stint with the team. He has a batting average of .269, an on-base percentage of .341 and a slugging percentage of .321 in 43 games, and Mastroianni has also swiped six bases and scored 18 runs. It’s a familiar place for the former Mountaineers standout, who has played in nearly 850 games with 12 teams over his minor league career. He’s spent 136 games in the majors and has gotten used to moving back and forth.

“It’s what you imagine,” Mastroianni said of the difference between the MLB and the lesser divisions. “The big leagues are national and Triple-A isn’t as publicized. If you screw up or do something great in Minnesota, it’s all over ESPN. But if you do it in Rochester, virtually nobody knows about it - good or bad. The pressure isn’t as much, but if you want to get back to the big leagues you have to play great here.”

The path to his current Triple-A location has been a long and winding road that has spanned nine years, two continents and found different MLB clubs. It’s a story that paints a vivid picture of the struggles and success baseball players face in pursuit of reaching the coveted highest level. For Mastroianni, that started with the Mountaineers all the way back in 2004 - the beginning of a two-year summer career.

After playing just five games his freshmen season for Winthrop, Mastroianni arrived in Vermont ready to compete. He finished second on the team in batting average (.299) and runs (23) while drawing a team-high 17 walks. It helped him when he transferred to D-II Southern Indiana, where he slugged his way to a .323 average and returned to Vermont the following summer. He swiped a team-high 20 bases in 21 attempts during his second stint in The Green Mountain State, hitting .212 in 34 games.

Summer collegiate baseball is pivotal for players development, but Mastroianni’s best moments with the Mountaineers were spent with his host family.

“I was fortunate enough to live with two great people in Nancy Andreoletti and Fred Stone,” he said.

Stone passed away a few weeks ago, which was sad news for Mastroianni.

“My time in Vermont was highlighted by those two people, and they were easily the best part of it all for me and that’s what made the experience special,” he said

A 16th-round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays, Mastroianni spent a year apiece with Short-Season A affiliate Auburn and Full-Season A affiliate Lansing. In 2009, he split time with Double-A New Hampshire and Advanced-A Dunedin.

He played 13 games in the Arizona Fall League, an off-season league that takes the top six prospects from each team and divides them into six teams. He continued to jump around, spending 2010 in New Hampshire before enjoying a productive winter in Venezuela with Zulia, a baseball team there.

Zulia is a franchise in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League and has featured players like Colorado Rockies starter Carlos Gonzalez. Mastroianni enjoyed his time there so much he went back two more times, playing 93 games and hitting .300 over three years with the club.

“It was a highlight of my career,” he said. “I enjoyed living and playing there. They have a great culture and attitude towards baseball. It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball.”

Mastroianni returned from his successful winter and climbed to Triple-A before making his Major League debut Aug. 24, 2011. After the Blue Jays finalized a trade that freed up a roster space, Mastroianni was called up to bat ninth and play center field. He finished his debut 0-for-2 with a strikeout, returning to Triple-A after the game.

A year later he was in Minnesota, where he played 77 games at the MLB level. It was the start of a flurry of transactions surrounding the 5-foot-11 outfielder, who played all three outfield positions during the 2012 season with the Twins.

He ended up with the Twins after being claimed off waivers, and things quickly became complicated. In 2013, a stress reaction in his left ankle put him on the 15-day disabled list and he returned to the minors, rehabbing across very levels. When he returned, he was optioned and recalled to Triple-A three times over the next year.

The Blue Jays claimed him off waivers and he eventually elected free agency after bouncing back and forth. The Philadelphia Phillies signed him and put him in Triple-A, then promptly traded him to the Washington Nationals. He eventually elected free agency and was re-signed by the Twins. All in all, it added it up to 20-plus transactions over the past two years.

“Life in the minors is a grind and it isn’t easy,” Mastroianni said. “Nobody could ever know what it’s truly like until you get here. There’s no disillusion from anyone that it’s a walk in the park, nor is it a glamorous ride. Still, it’s fun and it’s an experience not everyone gets. So even through the grind of travel, it was well worth it.”

Game 36 Recap: Bay Sox 3, Mountaineers 1

Vermont's Michael Fairchild went 7 2/3 in his longest start of the summer. 

With another opportunity to reach .500 sitting right in front of them, the Mountaineers came up short. Looking to even their record for the first time since June 10th, the second game of the season, Vermont faltered in a 3-1 loss to New Bedford in the last of a five-game road trip.

A two-run double from Bay Sox catcher Jakob Goldfarb in the eighth was the decisive blow, breaking up a 1-1 deadlock. New Bedford starter Sam Nepiarsky scattered a run and five hits over 7 2/3, striking out eight, and All-Star closer Darrien Ragins stranded a runner on second with back-to-back strikeouts to finish off his seventh save.

It was a game with plenty of fireworks, as Nepiarsky was ultimately tossed alongside pinch-runner Robbie Doring during an eventful eighth. With one out, Andrew Penner singled to right with Doring on second, who attempt to score. He was thrown out easily by Troy Scocca but collided with Mountaineers catcher Ryan Fineman at the plate.

Both players ended up jawing at each other, with Nepiarsky — who had finished his night in the prior inning — came storming in and shoved a player. During and Nepiarsky were ejected, which will prove costly for the Bay Sox. Attempting to fend off the Danbury Westerners for the fourth spot in the Southern Division playoffs, Nepiarsky has been their ace and will miss a potentially pivotal start.

Nepiarsky was lights out early, retiring 11 straight Mountaineers after a one-out single in the first. The Bay Sox took a lead off of Mountaineers starter Michael Fairchild in the fifth, as he hit Ted Shaw with two outs and back-to-back singles from Danny DiMare and Alex Mata brought him in.

Vermont was able to answer, however, as Jeremy McCuin led off the sixth with a double off of Nepiarsky. He moved to third on Trevor Ezell’s sacrifice bunt and scored on a groundout from Will Morgan. It was the lone run the Mountaineers would manage against New Bedford’s pitching staff, however.

They couldn’t make the most of a leadoff double from Joe Tietjen in the seventh, as he was thrown out after breaking early on the pitch and sliding into third as the shortstop hauled in a pop-up. McCuin singled and Ezell was hit by a pitch with two outs in the eighth, chasing Nepiarsky, but reliever Matthew Leon induced a flyout to escape the jam.

Raigins, an All-Star closer, worked around the heart of Vermont’s order. Tietjen reached second on a throwing error, but he hunkered down and struck out pinch-hitter Slade Heggen and Jeremy Giles to end the game.

Vermont’s Fairchild was a tough luck loser, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out six. After a pair of ejections, Fairchild ran into two-out trouble. He walked Connor Hoover to put two on for Goldfarb, who doubled  in both runs. It appeared the throw from Keegan Meyn in left easily beat Hoover, but he was ruled safe in a controversial call for the insurance run.

That chased Fairchild, with reliever Christian Isbell getting the final out and stranding a runner on second.

The loss is the second time in Vermont’s last eight games they’ve had had a chance to climb back to .500 but haven’t been able to. They were 14-15 entering a pair of home games last week but dropped three straight. A trio of wins on the road had them poised to erase all memories of the 2-11 start, but the Bay Sox sneaked by.

Still, it’s not all bad for Vermont. Keene dropped a doubleheader with North Adams, giving the Mountaineers a 1 1/2-game cushion for the fourth playoff spot. The SteepleCats built a two-game lead over Vermont for the third spot.

Tonight’s game against Upper Valley is big for a variety of reasons. The Nighthawks, after dropping nine of 10, have rebounded to go 5-5 and sit just 2 1/2 out of fourth place in a late season comeback. It’s a big opportunity for the league’s expansion franchise to gain ground in a semi-rivalry, so expect plenty of fireworks.