LYNN, Mass. ”“ Pitching, hitting, defense.
The Sanford Mainers were lacking in all of those critical facets, Wednesday night, and paid for it with an 8-0 pasting by the North Shore Navigators, in Game 1 of their best of three Eastern Division playoff semifinal.
Now the Mainers find themselves deficient in one other critical area.
Wiggle room.
Sanford must win Game 2 tonight (6:30 p.m.) at Goodall Park or see their season cut short.
“We won’t carry this over,” said right fielder Mike Montville. “It’s a new day tomorrow.”
Said Sanford manager Aaron Izaryk, “It could have been 1-0 or 8-0. If you don’t score a run it’s tough to win. The good news is that it’s sometimes easier emotionally from 8-0, than from a 1-0 nail biter.”
Matters got away from the Mainers in a hurry, as starter A.J. Bazdanes grappled to find his groove.
North Shore touched Bazdanes for a run in the first frame, after Matt McGovern drew a lead off walk, then later scored on a sacrifice fly by Dario Pizzano.
The Navs scored twice more, after putting Bazdanes into a bases-loaded, no out predicament.
McGovern plated one run with a sacrifice fly, while Clint Harwick singled in another to make it 3-0.
“You’ve got to throw strikes,” said Bazdanes, “and I didn’t do that. I had all my pitches, and actually I was very confident after the first inning, even though I gave up a run. I had control of all my pitches, I just had a hard time finding the zone.”
Bazdanes left after 4.1 innings trailing 5-0, with a two-run double by Pizzano accounting for the other tallies.
Having seen each of the five Navs he walked eventually cross the plate, Bazdanes put the onus for the Mainers’ failings squarely on his own shoulders.
“If I turn (those) walks into three strikeouts and a groundout,” he said, “we’re still playing this game.”
Meanwhile, Mainers hitters were completely flummoxed by North Shore lefty Crayton Bare, who allowed them just one hit ”“ a first inning single by Jack Lupo ”“ through the first five frames.
The Mainers did have a chance to take a first inning lead, when Lupo made it to third on a passed ball with two away.
But he was marooned there, and afterward Bare was hardly challenged until the sixth, when he allowed consecutive two out singles to Justin Leisenheimer and Montville, which amounted to nothing.
“He didn’t really throw hard,” said Montville, “but he located. Sometimes it’s easier to hit (a) 95 (m.p.h. pitch) right down the middle instead of an 82. When it’s coming that slow, it looks like something you want to hit, then it gets down below your barrel.”
Izaryk was philosophical about the Mainers’ difficulties.
“Good pitching beats good hitting,” he said. “That’s the way it goes. They’re pitching was better than our hitting. Tonight wasn’t our night. We didn’t deserve to win, and we didn’t win.”
CHIN MUSIC: Itching to get back on the diamond is 2B Brett Mollenhauer, who rolled his ankle last week and has been held out of action since then. “I’m getting there,” said Mollenhauer, who represented the Mainers at both the NECBL All-Star Game, and the Fenway Park NECBL/Team USA tilt. “I’m still a day away. I’m just trying to get ready to go.” Mollenhauer did take batting practice for the first time since sustaining the injury. ”¦ Pitchers for tonight’s Game 2 are Tommy Lawrence (1-2, 1.48) against the Navs’ Michael Johnson (4-4, 2.80).
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