Borton Dominates Mainers as Bats Pick Up Key Road Win

SANFORD, Maine – Tyler Borton (Florida Atlantic) struck out seven over five shutout, two-hit innings of work as the Keene SwampBats picked up an important 4-2 road victory over the Sanford Mainers on Monday night at Goodall Park.

The Bats (15-8-1) bounced back from a Saturday loss against NECBL-worst North Adams to beat Sanford (16-8) for the second time in three games, again moving within a half-game of first place in the Northern Division standings as the season moves toward its homestretch.  The division champions are guaranteed the top two seeds in the new playoff format, with the next six wild card slots being filled by the next six best winning percentages regardless of division.

Last Thursday, Keene dipped to just one game over .500 following a three-game losing streak, but they have since won seven of their past eight to threaten for a second consecutive division title.

Beginning a busy week, the Bats put up four runs in the first two innings and Borton, who made his Bats debut in a suspended game at Bristol that has yet to be completed, was in command, retiring his final seven betters and never having two baserunners on at the same time.  Sanford's lone threat came in the third when Albert De La Rosa singled to left before Brendan Sencaj poked a double into the left center gap, but De La Rosa was thrown out at home trying to score for the second out.  Borton then got Wachter to pop out to center to end the inning and whiffed two in an eight-pitch fourth before a 1-2-3 fifth that culminated with a looking punchout of Sam Miller.

Keene took a quick lead, going up 1-0 in the first when Collin Anderson walked, moved to second on a balk, third on Eli Stephens' (Georgia Tech) single, and scored on Jackson Marshall's (Connecticut) fielder's choice grounder.   The Bats piled on three more in the second on a double by Griffin Enis (Dallas Baptist) and a two-run single from Collin Anderson (Duke) down the left field line.

Borton and three relievers made it stand up from there, as Keene moved to 3-2 against the Mainers with one head-to-head meeting remaining between the two teams at Alumni Field that could decide what might be an important tiebreaker.  Sean Finn (transfer portal) worked through a scoreless sixth, stranding two after freezing Troy Carpenter and inducing a popup to third from Steven Kraus.

The hosts parlayed a pair of walks by Finn into a seventh inning run when Miller grounded to short for the second out, spoiling the shutout, and had a threat in the eighth when two hit batters and a walk loaded the bases with one out, but Bats head coach Shaun McKenna turned to Tanner Beliveau (Mississippi State), who blew away Domenico Tozzi and Brennan Staubley to get out of it.  An RBI double by Sencaj with the Mainers down to their final out made it a 4-2 game and brought the tying run to the plate, but Beliveau nailed down the save by fanning Wachter – his fourth strikeout in an outing that saw him throw 20 of 26 pitches for strikes.

Enis led the Bats' offense with a 3-for-3 game and had their lone extra-base hit.  Anderson was 1-for-2 with two RBI and two walks out of the top spot in the lineup.

De La Rosa and Sencaj had four of Sanford's five hits.

Borton (1-0) got the win, throwing 71 pitches and whiffing seven over five scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks.

Bryson Thacker (0-1), a Florida International product via West Virginia and Tennessee, allowed four runs and five hits in four innings to take the loss.  He walked one and struck out one.

The victory also moves McKenna within two of tying Marty Testo on the Bats' all-time managerial wins list and three away from setting a new record.

Keene will travel to play the Vermont Mountaineers (9-16) tomorrow (Tuesday, July 7) for a doubleheader that begins at 4:00 p.m. before hosting Mystic (14-9) on Wednesday night.  In a busy week, the Bats also have a twinbill on Sunday at home against Ocean State.  Sanford hosts Upper Valley tomorrow night.