ME Mariners earn ninth straight trip to ITL Finals with semifinal sweep
There will be a new champion in the Intertown Twilight Baseball League this season.With a 6-1 win over the two-time defending ITL champion Rockport Townies at Evans Field, the Manchester Essex Mariners swept the best-of-three series to earn a spot in the ITL finals for the ninth season in a row.
The Mariners will host Game 1 of the finals on Saturday at Memorial Field in Essex against the winner of the league's other semifinal series between the Hamilton Generals and Rowley Rams. The Rams hold a 1-0 lead in that series after a win in Game 1 on Monday, Game 2 is on Tuesday in Rowley.
The Townies entered Monday's Game 2 in Rockport having won eight straight elimination games on the way to a league championship in 2017 and 2018. But that streak came to an end thanks to the arms of Peter Clark and Marc Phinney.
Clark earned the win, going 4 and 1/3 innings, allowing four hits. After Nolan Webb led off the game with a double and came in to score on an Alex Webb grounder to shortstop in the bottom of the first inning, the Mariners pitchers were able to keep the Townies off the board the rest of the way.
Clark pitched into the fifth, where he ran into trouble with runners on first and third with one down in the frame. That's when Phinney came in and he immediately picked a runner off first before throwing a pitch and then got a foul pop up to the catcher to get out of the jam. The Mariners lefty went on to pitch 2 and 2/3 innings of hitless relief, allowing one base-runner on a walk, to earn the save.
The
Townies 1-0 lead did not last very long as the Mariners tied the score
the next half inning when Mike Cain, who reached on an error, came in to
score on a Paul Crehan single to make it 1-1.A pair of home runs in the third ended up being the difference in the game as Kellen Field sent one into the woods in center for a two-run shot to plate what turned out to be the game-winning-run, giving the Mariners a 3-1 lead. Two batters later, Cain put one in the center field woods for a solo shot to extend the lead to 4-1.
Manchester Essex added another run in the sixth when Crehan scored on a wild pitch, and one more insurance run in the seventh when Rory Gentile (single) scored on an Adam Philpott base knock to make it 6-1.
The Mariners took control of the series on Sunday with an 8-1 win at Memorial Field. Dylan Wilson struck out 11 in the win.
