MONMOUTH — Winthrop had two chances on the last day of the regular season to get a win and clinch a spot in the playoffs. The Ramblers, playing games back-to-back games at Monmouth Academy, narrowly lost to Madison in nine innings. Then, Monmouth starting pitcher Nick Sanborn took away any chance of a win in the second game, hurling a gem in a 5-1 victory at Chick Field in MVC baseball action on Wednesday.
A rainout forced the Ramblers (6-10) to have to play a pair on Wednesday, including a home-game-away-from-home against 13-2 Madison.
“That was a tough one, that first game,” Winthrop coach Marc Fortin said.
Winthrop only had a few minutes to dwell on a squandered chance before taking the field again against a Monmouth team that entered the day 15-0.
Sanborn then made life miserable for the Ramblers. He struck out the side in the top of the first and finished with 13 strikeouts.
“It kind of set a tone for us, of, ‘It’s game time, let’s get after it,'” Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi said of Sanborn’s first frame. “It’s nice when he comes out and is able to do that. Especially them coming off a tough loss, setting those first three down kind of just takes the wind right out of their sails.”
Sanborn then put the Mustangs (16-0) on the board in the bottom of the inning, hitting a sacrifice fly to bring in Gage Cote. Chandler Harris followed with a single to drive in Nick Dovinsky.
Sanborn sat on that 2-0 lead and set down two hitters via strikeout in both the second and third innings. He allowed Matt Ingram to reach leading off the second with a bad throw to first, but picked off Ingram later in the inning.
The Monmouth senior left-hander didn’t allow a hit the first time through the Winthrop order, but Jackson Ladd changed that quickly to lead off the fourth. Ladd, a freshman, dropped a bunt down to the first-base side, then easily beat out a throw to first.
“That’s something he did on his own,” Fortin said. “Jackson’s very quick, good leadoff batter.”
That started a down inning for Sanborn and the Mustang defense. Ladd moved around the bases and scored on three wild pitches, a dropped fly ball allowed Bennett Brooks to reach, and Sanborn hit Antonio Meucci. But another strikeout ended the threat with the Ramblers scoring just the one run.
“It happens occasionally with us. We just got to keep fighting. We usually get out of it fine,” Sanborn said. “I’ve just got to keep throwing strikes and they’ve got to make the plays, that’s all.”
Monmouth committed errors in each of the next two innings, but Sanborn struck out two batters in each and finished off both frames by knocking down line drives and beating runners to first with throws.
“He struggled a little bit in the middle innings, but he worked himself out of it. Curveball was working pretty well today. Just a good pitching job,” Palleschi said. “Today was about as sharp as we’ve seen him. He was really on today.”
Sanborn finished with 13 strikeouts, no walks and just two hits allowed.
“I knew I just had to stick to what I’ve been doing all year. Just keep throwing strikes, keep them off balance with the off-speed stuff, and then give them the fastball whenever I can,” Sanborn said.
His adversary on the mound for the Ramblers, Jacob Hickey looked to be getting into a groove of his own after the two-run first, throwing a pair of 1-2-3 innings. Sanborn led off the bottom of the fourth with a bloop single. He stole second and advanced to third on a bad throw, then beat out a throw home on Avery Pomerleau’s fielder’s choice grounder. Pomerleau then moved the bases on a catcher’s indifference and a wild pitch and scored on Travis Hartford’s RBI infield single.
“We scored when we had runners on,” Palleschi said. “We took advantage of every opportunity we got somebody on.”
The Mustangs rounded out the scoring in the fifth. Cote led off with a triple and scored on Dovinsky’s sacrifice fly.
Hickey gave up six hits while striking out two batters and walking one in six innings. Fortin said he pitched well, but didn’t have his slide step working for him, which allowed the Mustangs to be aggressive on the bases.
Hunter Richardson pitched the seventh inning for Monmouth, allowing a lead-off single to Spencer Steele before finishing off the game with a fielder’s choice, a fly out and a strikeout of Ladd.
The No. 1 overall seed in the Class C South playoffs was already locked up for the Mustangs, but Wednesday’s win capped off a perfect regular season for a team that didn’t graduate any players a year ago.
The Ramblers are in the same boat this year, without a senior. But Winthrop won’t be a part of the Class C South postseason, something Fortin said will be happening for “the first time in quite a while — we don’t know exactly how long.”
“So many close games that we should have, wished, could have, didn’t quite. So we’re going to be watching (the playoffs).”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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