Sanford Advances

Second baseman Sam Dexter's single to center scored Sam Balzano in the 10th inning to defeat the Keene Swamp Bats, 4-3 at Goodall Field.

Sanford advances to the next round, facing the Vermont Mountaineers in Montpelier Thursday night.

Sanford 3, Keene 0

Severino throws first pitch.

Keene starting pitcher Dominic Severino and his Sanford counterpart, Richard Vrana were in a pitcher’s duel through 4 innings Tuesday.

 In the top of the fifth, 2^nd baseman Sam Dexter singled and catcher Kendall Patrick pushed Dexter to 2^nd base while retired on a 6-3 groundout. Then 1^st baseman Matt Harris crashed a two- run home run and the Sanford Mainers went on to defeat the Swamp Bats 3-0 Tuesday night.

Sanford pitcher Richard Vrana
photo by Doc Gordon

Bret Dennis broke up Richard Vrana’s bid for a no-hitter in the bottom of the 7^th with a strongly-hit single.

Perhaps the most dazzling feat of the night was the catch made by Swamp Bats pitcher Michael Dunnigan. 

Coaching first base, Dunnigan made a nifty, if not pins-and-needles, sympathy pain- inducing, two-handed grab of a foul ball.

The deciding game of this three game series takes place at Sanford’s Goodall Park @ 6:30 pm Wednesday. 

Playoffs: Keene 4, Sanford 1

Matt Blandino gave up only one run in five innings and Matt Clancy and Ben Criscuolo shut down the Sanford Mainers the rest of the way as the Keene Swamp Bats won the playoff opener on the road.

Brady Sheetz started the game with a double and scored on catcher Rob Coman’s SAC fly to center. 

Zach Lauricella, Dominic Severino and Matt Blandio
before the Swamp Bats game v Sanford July 19.

Zach Lauricella doubled in the 4^th and scored on Ryan Summers’ ground out. Lauricella doubled again in the 5^th to drive in two runs.

The next game is Tuesday at 6:30 at Alumni Field.

I'm Batman

Batman's driver is Swamp Bats volunteer Jean Goodell and this photo was taken by the lovely Kim Goodell.

Batmobile prize tonight

C'mon, it's only a buck!

One of the more fun promotions at Alumni Field  is the Batmobile tennis ball toss. This kind of thing is pretty common in the NECBL and minor league baseball.

Every night, people are invited to purchase the right to throw a tennis ball at the Batmobile. Buy a ball for a buck, the ball has a number, give your name and number when you buy the ball.  Of that dollar, half goes to the team.  Of those tennis balls that make it into the car, one ball gets 25% of that night’s pot. The numbered ball is taken from the bunch that make it into the Batmobile, cross referenced with who bought it and...We have a winner!

 Some nights, the winner gets 10 bucks or as much as $50.00.

I wasn't there but Vicki says it looked like this.
Photo NOT  by Doc Gordon.

Dan Moylan played on the Memphis Redbirds, one of his teammates was named Skip Schumaker*.

Skip bought a junker of a car to get around and for laughs, would sometimes drive it on to the field and encourage fans to throw numbered tennis balls at the car. If your tennis ball made it, it got put into the season-long list of winners. From that list, a champion tennis ball was chosen and the car was awarded to the lucky tennis ball tosser.

After Vicki Bacon, Dan’s Mom, saw this in Memphis and returned to Keene, she told Kevin Watterson and a promotion was born. KeeneAuto Body helped in a big way with a donated car.  

Tonight’s the night for the season draw, the lucky winner will walk away with about $500.00

The view from inside the Batmobile.

*Skip is now with the Cincinnati Reds.