July 19, 2024 – New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL)
Sanford Mainers Press Release

Sanford Mainers’ Jackson Tucker in action
(, Photo: Madison Giltner)

SANFORD, Maine – For the second straight night, the Sanford Mainers made baserunning history as they stole 11 bases en route to an 8-1 victory over the North Shore Navigators on Friday night at Goodall Park.

The Navigators scored their only run of the game in the third inning after Sanford left the bases loaded in the second inning.

Daniel MacDougall (Endicott) hit a one-out double to left field before a walk by Josh Kopetski (Rhode Island) moved the North Shore left fielder to third. MacDougall came around to score two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Jones (Stetson).

The Mainers, who started the season 4-11 when their opponents scored first, didn’t need long to get that run back for their left-handed starter.

Caleb Shpur (UConn) and Jackson Tucker (St. John’s), who swapped spots at the top of the Mainers’ lineup from the night before in North Adams, led off the bottom of the third with back-to-back singles. Tucker stole the Mainers’ first base of the night on his single, putting two runners in scoring position for C.J. Willis (Quinnipiac).

“You could basically flip a coin with those two guys and have them bat first or second every night because of what they can do,” manager Nic Lops said of Shpur and Tucker. “It sets the tone, knowing that a single is probably going to turn into a double or maybe even a triple in a heartbeat. That gives the middle of our lineup a chance to do some damage, be clutch and drive in runs.”

While it wasn’t the damage the Mainers have come to expect from Willis, his high chopper to third was not handled by Pat D’Amico (Seton Hall), allowing Shpur to score the tying run.

Tucker and Willis, who advanced to second on a wild pitch, were joined on base two batters later by Blake Schaaf (Georgetown), who recorded his 15th walk of the season to load the bases. A slow roller to shortstop by Ray Velazquez (Vanderbilt) resulted in an infield single that scored Tucker.

But Sanford’s center fielder wasn’t the only runner to score, as Reece Moroney (Rhode Island)’s infield single went to right field, allowing Willis to score. Schaaf followed Willis to the plate two batters later when Mateo Hernandez (Austin Peay) hit a sacrifice fly after Matt Miceli’s (Stony Brook) walk.

An inning later, the Mainers put a pair of more runs on the board when Tucker and Shpur started the inning with back-to-back walks. The two combined to steal three bases in the inning, allowing Shpur to score on a sacrifice fly and Tucker on a throwing error by Matt Chatelle (Rutgers) after his third stolen base of the game.

“We like to call it speeding up the game on opponents,” Lops said of his team’s running game. “When you go from a walk, it almost automatically turns into a triple, and it frustrates pitchers and throws them off their rhythm. Catchers can get frustrated and it can really change a whole baseball game.”

Kopetski returned to the mound in the next half-inning with a five-run lead as the Arundel, Maine native looked to put the finishing touches on his longest outing of the summer. The rising sophomore did just that, as a flyout and two ground balls helped him work around a leadoff single by Ryan Gerety (Northeastern).

“Josh has been very consistent for us all summer,” Lops said of Kopetski, who went five innings of one-run baseball with three strikeouts. “He’s made a few mistakes here and there, but he was the guy we knew was going to set the tone early. … They went with a very right-handed lineup and I was impressed with how he handled that.”

Kopetski handed the ball to Conner Griffin (Binghamton), who continued Sanford’s fourth straight game of allowing three or fewer earned runs. Griffin forced three groundouts in his first inning out of the bullpen since July 10.

After Griffin’s scoreless sixth, the Mainers put another run on the board in the sixth inning when Shpur reached base for the third time on a walk. Shpur, who started the day 11-11 in stolen bases, recorded his third and fourth stolen bases to place himself 90 feet from Tucker.

Tucker grounded out to second base as Shpur quickly sprinted the ball in for Sanford’s seventh run of the game.

Griffin retired three straight Navigators on a leadoff walk in the seventh before Schaaf worked a leadoff walk in the home end of the third. Schaaf stole both second and third, and on his steal of third, Chatelle threw another ball that bounced into the outfield, allowing Schaaf to score.

Miceli had his second walk of the two batters after Schaaf. With Hernandez at the plate, Miceli successfully slid into second base for Sanford’s ninth stolen base of the game. Miceli’s stolen base was Sanford’s 101st of the season, tying the Mainers’ all-time single-season team record for stolen bases, set in 2003.

That total jumped to 102, then 103 in the bottom of the eighth inning when Tucker stole second and third on his one-out single. The Mainers lead the NECBL with 103 stolen bases and are eight games away from breaking the NECBL record of 125 set by the 2021 Upper Valley Nighthawks.

After Tucker was stranded on third base at the end of the eighth inning, Connor Toriello (Salve Regina) got the final three outs for Sanford in the ninth inning to seal the 8-1 victory, Sanford’s fourth in a row.

“This game is a lot more fun and it’s a lot easier to succeed if you play the game with fun and play hard,” Lops said of his team’s winning streak.

The Mainers return to action Saturday against the Newport Gulls at Goodall Park, with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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