SANFORD — Do unto others as they do unto you.
The Mainers played by the golden rule last night as they shutout the North Shore Navigators 6-0 in front of 600 fans Thursday night at Goodall Park, avenging an 8-0 defeat from the night before to even up the best of three Eastern Division playoff series 1-1. The rubber match is set for 6:15 tonight at Frasier field in Lynn, Mass.
Tommy Lawrence was the hero for Sanford, throwing a complete game five hitter to keep his team alive for at least one more day.
“Obviously Tommy went out and pitched his tail off today,” Sanford manager Aaron Izaryk said. “Their staring pitcher beat our hitting (last night) and today it was the reverse. Good pitching beats good hitting and it proved itself again today.”
Like North Shore did Wednesday, Sanford got off to a quick start with a run in the first thanks to a Mike Montville double that plated Brett Mollenhauer.
The Mainers got two more in the second frame thanks to two-out singles from Marlon Calbi and Mollenhauer, and added a fourth the next inning on another two-out single by Tim Panetta that brought home Montville.
“You can’t teach clutch hitting. You just have to trust your at bats and trust what you’ve done in practice and through the year to make sure at that point you’re ready to go,” Izaryk said. “For us to get clutch hits you have to put the ball in play. We didn’t strike out much tonight and I think that an important part of our success.”
As the Mainers continued to add to their tally, Lawrence made sure the Navigators couldn’t starts theirs, allowing only two infield singles and a walk in his first five innings of work.
The first sign of trouble for Lawrence sprang up in the sixth. After Clinton Harwick got the Navs’ first hit out of the infield with a liner to right, Eric Jagielo pounded a Lawrence pitch to left-center for what looked like a sure rally starter. But leftfielder Jack Lupo ranged to his left and made a tremendous diving catch just short of the warning track, doubling off a surprised Harwick who was halfway to third.
“It was the most ridiculous catch I’ve ever seen,” Lawrence said. “Best catch I’ve ever seen while I was pitching.”
A Mollenhauer blooper to left scored two more for the Mainers in the bottom half of the sixth to finish the scoring. Mollenhauer, who hadn’t played since July 30 due to a rolled ankle, was triumphant in his return, going 3-4 with three RBI and a run scored.
“Especially being an elimination game and being a two-year year guy he’s kind of a hero around here,” Izaryk said of his second baseman. “I don’t think you were going to hold Brett down today. He’s a tough player and a tough kid.”
Lawrence proceeded mowing down the North Shore lineup in the last three innings to close out Sanford’s first complete game of the season. The righty out of Winthrop University used his two-seam fastball to get easy groundball outs all night, striking out just three but not allowing a runner past second base.
“We knew we needed to win and Tommy came out and did a great job on the mound,” Mollenhauer said. “We’ve got the momentum back right now so we’ll just try to keep that going into tomorrow.”
Tripp Davis (3-2, 4.26) will get the start for Sanford in the tonight’s win or go home Game 3. The Mainers have lost all four games they’ve played in Lynn this season, and Izaryk said his team would need a short memory if it hoped to take the series on enemy territory.
“It was an emotional victory,” he said. “We’ve got to carry some emotion but also leave some emotion here. We’ve got all the confidence in Tripp Davis to go out there and get us the win.”
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