Two Homers Back Strong Pitching Effort as Bats Win 4-1
Keene Uses Three Arms, Enough Offense to Get Back in Win Column
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 |
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1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 4 | 7 | 1 |
KEENE, N.H. – Hot-hitting Jackson Smith (Cincinnati) cracked a leadoff home run to left center to erase a short-lived Vermont lead and the Keene SwampBats went on to score a run in each of the first three innings in an eventual 4-1 victory over the Mountaineers on Friday night at Alumni Field in front of 2,770 fans.
Keene (7-4-1) relied upon their three arms to get back in the win column, with Vermont's (5-8) only run coming on a first-and-third double steal in the first inning. Ryan Bailey (Pittsburgh), Andrew Lepine (UCF), and Rob Gilchrist (Connecticut) took it from there, shutting out the Mountaineers over the final eight innings. Bailey struck out seven over his four innings of work, allowing one run and two hits, while Lepine whiffed two in three scoreless frames and Gilchrist fired two scoreless innings including punching out all three in the ninth for his first save.
The Bats' early offense ultimately proved to be enough, with Smith – hitting over .400 on the season – connecting on a full count pitch for a blast to left center off Hank Lippman (1-1) in the first to tie the game at one. In the second, Michael O'Brien (Little Rock) worked a one-out walk and scored from first on Charlie Meglio's (Rutgers) single to right to put Keene in front, and Chris Polemeni (Connecticut) then connected for his first long ball of the summer in the third to make it 3-1.
Vermont had the tying runs in scoring position with two outs in the fourth, but Bailey punctuated his outing with a strikeout of JJ Parsons on the ninth pitch of the at bat. The visitors also had two on with two down in the fifth down two after David Alvarez poked a single into left, but Lepine got Nick Mullen to fly to center.
Keene tacked on another in the bottom half to make it 4-1 when Eli Stephens (Georgia Tech) and O'Brien singled to help produce a first-and-third situation. Meglio then grounded a ball up the middle that Mullen tried to glove flip to second to end the inning, but the ball trickled away and allowed Griffin Enis, who had replaced Stephens on a fielder's choice, to score.
Vermont never had the tying run come to the plate after the fifth inning despite hanging around, as Lepine (1-0) finished his appearance with a five-pitch 1-2-3 seventh. Gilchrist needed to face just four in the eighth, getting three ground ball outs, and then fanned all three in the ninth – two on three pitches.
Smith (2-4, HR, RBI) and Meglio (2-4, 2 RBI) had multi-hit games for the Bats. Brayden Leonard finished 2-for-4 for Vermont, who was held to six hits and fell to 1-6 on the road.
Keene travels to face the North Adams SteepleCats (1-11) at Joe Wolfe Field on Saturday night for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch. The game will be streamed on NECBL+.