For
the second night in three days the Rockport Townies and Manchester-Essex
Mariners met at Evans Field in Rockport. In a game that lasted almost 3 hours
and had multiple lead changes, the Mariners defeated the Townies 10 to 9 in
extra innings.
The
Mariners jumped on Rockport Starter James Parisi early for 3 runs in the top of
the 1st on hits by Caulin Rogers (3-4), Rory Gentile and Mike Cain (3-6,
6 RBI). The Townies answered back in the bottom of the 3rd with 3
runs off RBI hits by Alex Webb and Keady Segal. Parisi settled down and held
the Mariners scoreless until the 4th when Cain put the Mariners up 5
to 3 on a ground rule double.
The
Townies answered right back in the bottom half of the 4th with 2
runs on 2 consecutive sacrifice fly balls by Webb and Bryan Lentz.
The
Townies relived Parisi in the 5th following two
singles off the bats of Peter Clark and Rogers. Clark came around to score on a
Max Nesbit sacrifice fly to deep left center giving the Mariners a 6 to 5 lead.
In the bottom half of the 5th, Connor Douglass put the Townies back
on top 7 to 6 with a 2 RBI single. Townies reliever Shawn Hull shut the Mariners down until the top of
the 7th, when an error and 2 walks lead to another pitching change
for the Townies. Jason Vizena came in with no outs, bases loaded and limited
the Mariners to 1 run, a Nesbit sac fly.
The
Townies had runners in scoring position with 1 out in both the 7th and
8th innings, but Mariners reliever Peter Clark was able to escape
both situations.
There were 2 outs in the top of the 9th, with runners on 1st & 2nd and with the score tied at 7. The Townies intentionally walked Gentile to load
the bases for Cain. Cain fell behind 0 & 2 to Townies reliever Jason
Vizena, but Cain was able to battle back and line one up the middle for a 2 run
single to put the Mariners up 9 to 7. John Wilcox added an insurance RBI single
that would prove to be necessary as the Townies didn't go quietly in the bottom
half.
Douglass
lead off the 9th with a 10 pitch at bat that lead to a line drive single to
right field. Next stepped up Mike Muniz, the big first baseman crushed a Mike
Gibbon fastball into the center field trees to make the score 10 to 9. An error
on a shallow outfield pop fly lead to another base runner for the Townies with
no outs. However, Gibbon was able to shut down the Townies the rest of the way,
leaving the tying run on 3rd.
Clark
picked up the win for the Mariners with 4 solid innings of relief.
