Jul. 5—The recent onslaught of rain throughout New England caused three straight postponements for the SwampBats. However, the rain held off long enough for Keene to play against the Vermont Mountaineers Saturday night at Alumni Field.
When the dust settled after the 10-inning tug-of-war, Vermont won 11-8 to snap Keene’s franchise-record-tying ten-game winning streak.
The Mountaineers struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Keene answered back immediately, with two solo home runs courtesy of Troy Schreffler and Jared Payne.
With a 2-1 lead at his disposal, Keene starting pitcher Zach Davidson struck out three batters in a row in the top of the third.
In the bottom half, Keene stretched its lead further, when Noah Martinez singled and later scored.
Vermont struck for four runs to take the lead in the top of the sixth, fueled by a three-run home run from designated hitter Jeff Holtz to give the Mountaineers a 5-3 lead.
In the next half inning, shortstop David Bryant walked, then third baseman Danny DiGeorgio tied the game with one swing of the bat, hitting a two-run home run to left field. The score was 5-5.
In the top of the eighth, Vermont reclaimed the lead again after back-to-back home runs — including the second of the day for Holtz.
The SwampBats weren’t ready to call it quits, though. In the bottom of the eighth inning, second baseman Zach Bushling came up to the plate with two outs and a runner on base. Once again, one swing of the bat tied it up; Bushling hit a two-run home run to left-center and knotted the game up at seven.
After each side went scoreless in the ninth, the game headed to extras.
Walks came back to kill the SwampBats in the 10th inning. Keene surrendered five walks in the inning and Vermont scored four runs to take an 11-7 lead.
In the bottom of the 10th, the SwampBats pushed across one run, but that was all they could muster.
The SwampBats hit the road to play the Mainers in Sanford on Tuesday.