Swamp Bats Squeeze Sanford, 9-8 (10 innings)
den Dekker scores on
Gran bunt with bases loaded in the bottom of the tenth
KEENE,
N.H. (July 23, 2007) – The Keene Swamp Bats executed a suicide
squeeze in the bottom of the tenth inning to claim a key 9-8
victory in a New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Northern Division battle before 905 at Alumni Field tonight.
Matt den Dekker (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Florida), who drew a
pinch-hit walk to lead off the inning, scampered home with the
winning run as Paul Gran (Bothell, Wash./Washington State) laid
down a perfect bunt in front of the plate as Keene capped a
back-and-forth contest.
Gran finished 2-for-3 for Keene with a double, stolen base an
RBI and three runs scored, while Chris Sheehan (Strasburg,
Pa./Georgia Southern) hit 2-5 with a triple, run scored and two
RBI. Jared Humphreys (Jackson, Ohio/Kent State) batted 2-4 with
a double and two runs scored, while Tyler Cannon (Meadowview,
Va./Virginia) drove in three runs.
Justin Robichaux picked up the win in relief (1-0), allowing
just a walk with four strikeouts in 3.1 hitless and shutout
innings of work.
Tyler Stovall (Loveland, Ohio/Central Michigan) was 2-for-5 for
Sanford with three RBI. Brian Michael Kemp (East Rockaway,
N.Y./St. John’s) finished 3-5 with two steals and three runs
scored, while Jeff Helps (Wyoming, Ontario/Central Michigan)
batted 2-5 with a double, steal and run scored.
Nick Carlucci (Franklin, Mass./Southern Connecticut State)
suffered the loss (0-1), allowing the one earned run on a hit
with two strikeouts and three walks in 2.1 innings.
Sanford led 7-5 after Jeff Grantham (Randolph, N.J./St. John’s)
scored on a wild pitch after drawing a leadoff walk. Keene
answered with three in the home half to regain the lead as
Cannon cleared the bases with a three-run double with one away.
The Mainers knotted the score again in the seventh when Kemp led
off with a single, stole second and scored on Stovall’s single
through the right side.
Keene (20-15) and Sanford (13-21) are back at it again tomorrow
for the back end of the home-and-home series at Goodall Park in
Maine at 6:30 p.m. The Swamp Bats return home on Friday to host
the Vermont Mountaineers at 7 p.m.
Teams 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 R H E
SAN 0 1 2 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 8 11 0
KNE 2 1 1 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 9 10 1
Batteries:
SAN – Ryan Lapointe, Brendon Rowlands (6), Phil Negus (6), Nick
Carlucci (8) and Bubba Ruddy.
KNE – Matt Vaughn, Seth Harvey (6), Justin Robichaux (7) and
Mark Fleury.
WP: Robichaux (1-0)
LP: Carlucci (0-1)
