SwampBats drop homer-filled contest against North Adams

by Andrew Hillsman

KEENE, N.H. – After picking up their third straight win in dominant fashion at Upper Valley on Saturday, the Keene SwampBats returned to Alumni Field for the first time in five days on Tuesday, hosting the North Adams SteepleCats for the second time this summer. In a game that featured a combined five home runs, the SwampBats were unable to come away with the win, falling to their division rival, 8-5.

LHP Evan Chaffee (St. John's) made his summer debut with Keene, but walked his first two batters and North Adams capitalized, as RF Bobby Stang (Dayton) hit a homer to open the scoring account. Keene responded in the bottom of the first, as all-star starter and Bats RF Jack Herring (ECU) put himself alone atop the NECBL home run leaderboards, hitting his seventh blast of the summer to bring Keene within two. 

Both squads traded runs until the sixth inning, when the scoring began to slow. In the third, North Adams scored one on a wild pitch, but Keene CF Marshall Lipsey (FAU) responded with his second home run of the season to keep the SteepleCats' lead at two. Two more solo shots in the fourth, one from North Adams SS Nelphie Lopez (Stetson), and the second of the year from Keene 3B Nick Romano (FAU). 

DH Ty Mainolfi (Boston College) and 2B Ripken Reese (Kent State) responded to a North Adams two-spot in the fifth with RBIs of their own, but Keene would fail to plate any more runs in the final four frames. On the pitching side of things, RHP Andrew Lepine (Stetson) had another solid outing in relief, tossing two innings of one hit, zero run ball while striking out four. 

Flamethrower Ben Dean (Duke) was effective as well, keeping the Bats in the game late with two innings of one-run ball, but with three runs to make up in the ninth, Keene ran out of time, with North Adams taking their third win of the summer over the Bats.

Keene moves to 22-11 on the year, still holding onto the best winning percentage in the NECBL. They will hit the road for the second of five straight games on Wednesday, heading to Montpelier to take on the 11-23 Vermont Mountaineers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM, and the game will be streamed live on NECBL+.