SOUTH PORTLAND – South Portland put together seven strong innings Tuesday afternoon against Sanford, beating the visiting Spartans 10-3 with solid play on both sides of the ball, including a snappy 6-4-3 double play on defense and a three-run blast to the wall by Zac Marles on offense.
With the loss, Sanford drops to 0-5 on the year, while South Portland improves to 4-1.
“Offensively, I thought we just strung together a lot of at-bats and took advantage of a couple timely errors,” South Portland head coach Mike Owens said, after the game. He also emphasized the work of his pitcher. “Nick Whitten on the mound really set the tone. He came out with a great one-two-three first inning”
The Red Riots got on the board early. Spartans’ pitcher Cody Mooney walked Jon Vickers at the top of the order, and South Portland’s Matt Beecher then belted a double into center, advancing Vickers to third. Marles next popped to center, and would certainly have been out, had the fielder not bobbled the catch an error which also allowed Vickers to reach home.
Later in the inning, with the bases loaded, Mooney walked Red Riot Hayden Owen; Owen’s trip to first dominoed around the bases and Beecher waltzed across the plate. By the time Sanford had escaped the inning, they’d given up two early runs.
Sanford got one back in the second, when Jed Scott swatted a base hit and Mooney smashed a long drive into center. The South Portland defense caught him out at third, but Scott scored.
It wasn’t enough to catch up, though, and the Red Riots continued to pull away. They built a five-run bottom of the second when Dillon Burns, Vickers, and Beecher loaded the bases one after the other. Mooney then walked Whitten, which brought Burns home again, and prompted Boissonneault to make an early pitching change. Brandon Wambolt stepped onto the mound for Sanford, while Mooney moved to third. But the change didn’t prevent Marles, who worked the plate next, from sailing a three-RBI double into the outfield.
Sanford found themselves down 7-1 after only two innings. They wouldn’t be able to make up that much ground. In the Spartans’ third at-bat, Tyler Flayhan made it safely to first, but then came the double-play: Ryan Camire chopped the ball to the South Portland shortstop, who flipped it to his teammate on second, catching Flayhan. Camire, en route to first, wasn’t fast enough, and also got caught at the bag.
Owens also applauded his team’s work in the field.
“I was very pleased with the defense and they way they played today,” he said, noting multiple outs his team forced at second, as well as the double play.
Even before their defeat in South Portland Tuesday, the Spartans were 0-4 on the season.
“We’ve got to keep plugging away, got to keep trying to get better,” Boissonneault said of coping with a series of tough losses. “Right now, we’re not fundamentally sound.”
Boissonneault also pinned Sanford’s struggles on falling behind early. “We’re giving up a couple runs in that first inning, and it’s so hard to come back from.”
But Boissonneault had praise to share as well.
“Ethan [Gouin] has been hitting the ball well, Cody [Mooney] has been hitting the ball well – the middle of our order has been hitting the ball well. A lot of our at-bats are quality at-bats – we’re making good contact. Our hitting is getting better.”
Whitten got the win for South Portland, while Mooney took the loss for Sanford.
Sanford drops to 0-5 on the season. They continue hunting for their first win of the year when they host the Kennebunk on Thursday, May 2, at 4 p.m. South Portland improves to 4-1 in 2013, and face a tough challenge when they host Scarborough, undefeated so far this season. That game is also scheduled for Thursday, May 2, at 4 p.m.
South Portland pitcher Nick Whitten
South Portland’s Hayden Owen gets caught out at third by Spartan’s baseman Cody Mooney.
South Portland catcher Adam Helmke.
The Sanford Spartans gather for instruction from head coach Mark Boissonneault.
Cody Mooney pitches for Sanford against South Portland.
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