Dukes Blow Late Lead, Fall in Extra Innings
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In the top of the first inning, the Mainers would score first off of Dukes starter Alex MacKenzie (Canisius) with an RBI groundout from Kyle Groth (Cornell) for the early 1-0 lead.
Jason Bowman (West Chester University) would go toe to toe with MacKenzie as both pitchers would enter occasional jams and escape unscathed.
In the bottom of the seventh, with Sanford still leading 1-0 lead, the Dukes mounted their comeback. Leadoff hitter Crag Hertler (San Jose State) drew a walk, followed by a single from J.T. Musso (BYU) that would chase the Mainer starter from the game. Jeff Decarlo (University of Michigan) entered the game and yielded an RBI single to Chris Edmondson (Le Moyne) to tie up the ballgame. On the same play, Musso was thrown out 7-5-6-7 trying to advance to third for the first out of the inning.
Later on in the frame, Edmondson would score on a wild pitch and give Pittsfield the 2-1 lead, but the lead was short lived.
In the top of the eighth inning, the Mainers were able to tie it up against MacKenzie. The Canisius student athlete allowed a leadoff walk to A.J. Cesario (Maryland). A wild pitch later and Scott Ferrarra (St. John's University) hit an RBI single to tie it up. MacKenzie would get out of further trouble, finishing with eight innings pitched, allowing just two runs on seven hits.
Pittsfield went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth inning, and Sanford would rally in the top of the ninth against reliever Zach Anderson (Buffalo). Anderson pitched two innings last night in the Dukes 8-4 loss at Lowell, and was called to shut down the Mainers in the ninth.
With the bases loaded and one out, Anderson induced Cesario to fly out to Edmondson in shallow left field, and got Ferrarra looking at strike three to end the inning.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Dukes would again go down in order as reliever Nick Cenatiempo (St. John's University) continued to shut down Pittsfield.
The Mainers took control against Luke Mazzanti (San Jose State) tagging him for two runs in the frame. Mark Micowski (University of Vermont) led off with a single, followed by a bunt base hit from Matt Nandin (Le Moyne) set up first and second with no outs.
Kevin Reimer (Canisius) dropped down the sacrifice bunt moving up the runners and Kyle Groth would follow with the two run double to deep center field to take the 4-2 lead. Groth finished 3 for 5 with 3 runs batted in.
Cenatiempo stayed in for his third inning of work, retiring the side, and all 8 hitters that he faced in order to preserve the Mainers' third straight win, 4-2.
With the loss, the Dukes have now lost 5 of their last 6 games and drop to 5-5 on the season while the Mainers move above .500 with the victory.
On Saturday, Pittsfield will travel to Vermont to play the Mountaineers in a 6:30 p.m. contest with Michael Ness (Duke) as the probable starter. Sanford will host Manchester that evening at the same time with Pat Lehman (George Washington) as the scheduled pitcher.
