Mountaineers crush Giants in
14-5 win
MONTPELIER, Vt. – The Vermont Mountaineers had their best
offensive performance of the season Sunday in a 14-5 win over
the Holyoke Giants in front of 1,032 at Recreation Field.
The Giants opened up the scoring in the second inning after they
rattled off four straight hits to start the inning and put three
runs on the board.
In the bottom of the frame, the Mountaineers cut to deficit to
one after an RBI double down the right field line by Robbie
Nickle (William and Mary) and a sacrifice fly to right field by
Lanny Stanfield (William and Mary).
Another Giants run was added in the third after Craig Turner
doubled to right-center field, scoring Kody Hightower.
The bottom of the fifth inning was when the Mountaineers started
to break the game open. Curt Smith (Maine) led off the inning
with a single, which set a new Mountaineers' record in total
bases for a season with 67. A.J. Pollock (Notre Dame) walked
after Shaun Hagey (URI) sacrificed Smith to first, which set up
Mike Sheridan's (William and Mary) bloop single into centerfield
to score Smith. Chad Durakis (Maryland) broke out of his recent
hitting slump with a double to the left-center gap that scored
Pollock and Sheridan and gave the Mountaineers their first lead
of the game. Nickle later hit a single up the middle to score
Durakis.
Holyoke replaced their starter Colin Feneis with Josh Creveling,
yet the Mountaineers continued to put runners across home plate
as Stanfield singled to right field to score Matt Prokopowicz (Hofstra)
and Nickle. The inning ended with six runs and five hits by the
Mountaineers, who now led the game 8-4.
Mike Gaggioli (Georgetown) made his first relief appearance of
the season for starter Jason Mitchell (Arizona State), who went
five innings and allowed four runs on six hits while striking
out three. Gaggioli was effective in his two innings of work,
giving up no runs and a hit.
The Mountaineers piled up more runs on the Giants in the sixth
and seventh innings at the expense of reliever Patrick Keller,
as the Mountaineers scored three runs in each of those innings
and extend their season-high run total to 14. Pollock broke
another Mountaineers single season record with his 15 th double
of the season in the seventh inning, and he now stands a double
shy of tying the NECBL record.
The Giants got a run back in the ninth inning but the deficit
was too much to overcome for them, resulting in a 14-5
Mountaineers win. Mitchell (4-0) picked up the win for the
Mountaineers while Feneis (1-2) was saddled with the loss.
The Mountaineers play their final regular season home game
Tuesday night against the Concord Quarry Dogs, with the first
pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday is a special day for
baseball fans in Central Vermont as Hall of Famer Robin Roberts
returns once again to the ballpark where he started to make his
name 60 years ago. Tuesday from 9-12 p.m. at the Capitol Plaza
Hotel and Conference Center, Roberts will be signing autographs
for $15, with all proceeds going to the Mountaineers. He will
then join the team in postgame festivities starting at 6:00 p.m.
to honor his Hall of Fame career that started 60 years ago in
Montpelier.
