Mariners Clinch Regular Season Title

Mariners 4 Generals 0

Mike Gibbon pitched a six hit shutout to lead the Manchester/Essex Mariners over the Hamilton Generals Tuesday night at Memorial Field in Essex. The win clinches the regular season title for the Mariners and assures them of home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

The Mariners scored single runs in the first two frames to take an early lead. Nate Bertolino stroked an RBI single in the first and Rory Gentile added a sacrifice fly in the second. In the third, Brett Cahill contributed a sacrifice fly and Joe Orlando knocked Generals’ starter Connor Sullivan from the game with a RBI single extending the lead to 4-0.

Hamilton had scoring opportunities, but could not get the big hit against the reigning ITL Cy Young winner. The Generals stranded seven runners, including leaving the bases loaded twice. Bertolino and Mike Cain both had two hits for Manchester/Essex as did Jim Maloney and Tim O’Leary for Hamilton. Luke Painchaud pitched 3.1 innings of shutout relief in the loss and recorded four strikeouts.