GNCBL: Nor’easters maintain their summer momentum, roll over Windjammers

OLD ORCHARD BEACH—Nearly the entire Nor’easters lineup “had a day,” as the saying goes, when the team took on the Windjammers on Sunday evening, July 28.

As for who led the ‘Easters in routing the ‘Jammers – and the game did end up a rout, at 16-0 – well, that honor goes to Tim Brigham (Cape Elizabeth/Suffolk), who finished with a double and a homer, three RBIs and two runs scored.

“It happens. Some days are like this,” Nor’easters assistant coach Max Salevsky, sr. said of his boys’ dominance. “We had a day; they all had a day. There was no one person – it was a team win.”

Windjammers shortstop Riley Hasson tags out Nor’easters runner Kolby Lambert. Adam Birt / American Journal

Brigham’s teammates looked almost as fiery as he did. Ben Nelson (Gorham/Merrimack) logged a hit, an RBI and three runs; Kolby Lambert (Naples/University of Southern Maine) three hits, including a double, one RBI and two runs; Drew Healey (Rochester, New Hampshire/St. Joseph’s) two runs and an RBI; Nick Liston (Springvale/Plymouth State) a hit, two runs and an RBI; Max Salevsky, jr. (Hollis/Plymouth State) two runs and two hits; Nolan Brown (Gorham/Husson) a hit, a run and an RBI; Wade Sansone (Cumberland/Sewanee) a hit, two RBIs and a run; and, finally, Ben Gravel (Rochester, New Hampshire/St. Joe’s) an RBI.

Phew.

Emery Dinsmore (Waldo/Colby) and Cam Smith (Gorham/Clark) split time on the mound for the Nor’easters in the five-inning affair, with the former tallying three Ks and the latter one.

The Windjammers are hardly a bad team. In fact, not 24 hours prior to stumbling vs. the No. 1 Nor’easters, the ‘Jammers had sidled skillfully past the No. 2 Patriots, 3-0.

Sunday just wasn’t their day.

The Nor’easters jumped out front – but not hugely – to open the bout. Nelson, leading off, trotted to first after taking a pitch in the body. Nelson stole second during Lambert’s at-bat, then rounded to home when Lambert lined a hard single at (and past) ‘Jammers first-baseman Christian Dow (Rochester, New Hampshire/Great Bay Community College).

Lambert got caught stealing second, and so missed his early chance to score – hey, even when you’re having a day, not everything works out. Anyway, Brigham had Lambert’s back, and made up for the lost opportunity with a big, fat homer over the leftfield wall.

Salevsky singled in the top of the second, but Brown flied out behind him, Sansone grounded out behind Brown and Gravel flied out behind Sansone, keeping the scoreboard at 2-0 for another inning.

The third is where the Nor’easters really broke away. The team hashed eight runs in the stretch. Nelson kicked things off, sort of – he got hit by another pitch. But a base is a base, and Nelson took his. Lambert then dropped a nice ball into centerfield, where even Jake LaPlume (Old Orchard Beach/St. Joe’s) – wicked dynamic at the position – couldn’t make a play.

Lambert’s contact, a double, ushered Nelson to third; Nelson scored when Healey grounded hard into right for a single, and Lambert scored when a pickoff attempt by the Windjammers’ pitcher flew wide of first base. Healey dashed all the way around to third on the mistake, and soon scored on a wild pitch: 5-0.

Brigham walked onto base, and eventually reached home when Brown grounded choppily through the infield: The Windjammers shortstop, on the move, tried to barehand the bouncing ball but missed, giving Brigham and Brown both plenty of time to get where they were going.

Liston also walked on; he slid over to second when Salevsky got hit by a pitch, then third on Brown’s contact and home when Sansone walked. Gravel walked, pushing Salevsky across the plate and Brown to third; Brown scored when Nelson returned to the plate and sac-flied to right. Finally, Sansone made it 10-0 on a balk – of all the dispiriting ways to go down by double-digits, it was a simple balk that did it to the ‘Jammers.

The Nor’easters’ gloves were off, and they stayed off: The team tallied six more runs before the game ended after the fifth inning. It was the second win of the day – and the second mercy-rule shutout of the day – for the Nor’easters, who’d earlier defeated the Lightning 10-0.

Coach Salevsky applauded Dinsmore: “I want to talk about Emery today. Emery threw the first game, threw 49 pitches in five innings – it was a five-inning affair. So that’s why I started him in the second game. And he went three innings this game and threw a total of 89 pitches. 89 pitches is incredible. And then Cam Smith cam in and closed it out.”

The Windjammers currently occupy fifth, at 7-14, in the Greater Northeast Collegiate Baseball League standings. The Nor’easters sit in first, at 18-4.

The GNCBL was founded in 2017 to provide college players (including incoming freshmen) an affordable opportunity to hone their skills in the off-season. The League plays at The Ballpark, at USM, at St. Joe’s, at Southern Maine Community College and sometimes at area high school fields. Their 27-game season begins at the start of June, and playoffs extend into mid-August.