Mystic Schooners drop NECBL playoff opener
Aug. 1—NORWICH — In a perfect world, the Mystic Schooners would have their best players available for the New England Collegiate Baseball League playoffs.
That's not even close to the case.
Mystic entered the best two-of-three quarterfinal matchup against Sanford on Monday with a depleted roster due to players heading home early.
To be fair, it's a league-wide issue.
But the Schooners have been hit particularly hard this summer, especially in the pitching department.
And it showed on Monday.
Mystic fell in a quick 6-0 hole after three innings and never recovered, losing 11-6 at Dodd Stadium. The Schooners, who were outhit, 17-11, scored all their runs in the final two innings.
Game two will be played at Sanford (Maine) on Tuesday. If necessary, the Schooners will host game three on Wednesday.
"They have a good team," Mystic manager Phil Orbe said. "We have a lot of respect for them. We're not packing it in. We're planning on having food after the game on Wednesday and we're ordering the umpires for Wednesday."
The Schooners rode strong pitching to the second best record (26-18) in the regular season, finishing in second place in the Coastal Division behind leader Newport, which owned the league's best record at 31-11. They clinched a wild card spot and the No. 4 seed.
The Mainers went 24-19, placed second in the North Division, earned a wild card spot and number five seed.
None of that mattered on Monday.
Sanford came out flying.
The Mainers slugged nine hits and piled up six runs in the first three innings against lefthander Matthew Fletcher (Lasell College), who came in with a 2.30 earned run average. They sent nine batters to the plate in the second inning, with Calvin Hewett (Vanderbilt) contributing a two-run single and Jeremiah Jenkins (Maine) chipping in a two-run double for a 4-0 lead.
Kevin Skagerlind (UMass) drilled a two-run double in the third to extend the edge to 6-0.
Fletcher departed with no outs in the fifth trailing 8-0.
"Fletch has been great for us all summer," Orbe said. "He just didn't have great stuff. That happens. You can't blame him. It wasn't from a lack of effort or anything like that."
Meanwhile, Sanford starter Justin Honeycutt (North Carolina Asheville) cruised through the Mystic lineup, allowing just three hits in six scoreless innings.
The Schooners prevented the shutout with a four-run eighth inning. Caleb Shpur (Endicott) drilled a two-run single with the bases loaded and the third run scored on an error. Maddix Dalena (UConn) added an RBI single.
Evin Sullivan's RBI single — his second hit — and Caleb Stelly's fielder's choice cut the deficit to 11-6 in the ninth.
"It's been the personality of the team, just really staying together throughout the whole year," Orbe said. "I didn't expect anything different in those last couple of innings."
In the good news department, Mystic used only two pitchers. Nick Cannata (Endicott) relieved Fletcher and finished the game.
The Schooners have only nine pitchers on their roster.
"That was a really good sign," Orbe said. "Nick Cannata stepped up and we could save our other guys."
