Sanford Wins Seventh Straight Behind Eight-Run Inning

By Cole Purvis

Director of Broadcasting and Media

SANFORD, Maine - The Sanford Mainers continued to stay hot, winning their seventh-straight game Friday night, beating the Upper Valley Nighthawks 9-5 at Goodall Park.

Mainers starter Andrew Middleton faced an Upper Valley offense that seemed disciplined from the start. The Nighthawks worked the Maryland lefty into several long at-bats, forcing him to throw 34 pitches in just the first inning. Not just that, but Middleton would surrender a run when Kyle Langley singled to center to bring Frank Kelly home and make it 1-0.

Fast-forward to the bottom of the second, where Sanford would put together one of its signature explosive innings. With two men aboard and two outs, left fielder Brendan Sencaj doubled to score Jack Tate. Then, Jake Harring kept the inning alive and gave Sanford the lead with a rope to center that brought Brennan Staubley in from third and Sencaj from second to make it 3-1. A wild pitch from Nighthawks starter Anthony Bubba allowed Antonio Morales to score, and Albert De La Rosa kept it going with a single to plate Harring, making it 5-1. Tate, hitting for the second time in the inning, brought De La Rosa home with a single of his own.

It forced Upper Valley manager Chase Allen to pull Bubba from the contest. The Nighthawks brought in Vincent Luther with the bases loaded, but he could not get the coveted out. Instead, Jackson Sirois hit a double to right that scored two and put the Mainers up 8-1. It ties Sanford's highest-scoring inning of the season after putting up eight runs in two separate innings against North Shore on July 4th.

Middleton would end up going three innings, allowing just one run and striking out three.

Sanford right fielder Nater Wachter extended the advantage with a sac-fly in the fourth to plate Steven Kraus.

Upper Valley bit into the deficit in the fifth when its top slugger, James Love, hit an RBI single to left that scored two.

For the second straight contest, the Moose received an excellent bullpen outing from a lefty. Stonehill's TJ Curley threw three innings of one-hit baseball, allowing no runs. He passed the baton to Drew Sliwkowski, who gave up a pair in the ninth, but still finished the job, and Sanford won 9-5.

The Mainers' game against the Valley Blue Sox on Saturday has been postponed to a date to be determined. Sanford is in action again Sunday afternoon against North Shore. First pitch from Goodall Park is at 4:30 p.m., and you can stream it on NECBL+.