White River Junction — The Upper Valley Nighthawks’ New England Collegiate Baseball League playoff chances took another hit on Sunday afternoon. This time, it came from their in-state rivals.
The Nighthawks (16-15) dropped both ends of its afternoon doubleheader with the Vermont Mountaineers, 10-6 and 5-2, at the Maxfield Sports Complex. The back-to-back losses puts Upper Valley, once again, close to .500 this summer, falling further behind the Sanford Mainers and Keene Swamp Bats in the NECBL’s Northern Division playoff race with two weeks remaining in the regular season. Upper Valley’s final 13 games are all against Northern Division opponents before the playoffs begin in early August.
Upper Valley fell to 0-3 against the Mountaineers since Nighthawks head coach Jason Szafarski tweeted out, on July 6, an “open invitation to all @MountaineersVT to stop by our dugout on July 7th during pregame to check out the (Governor’s) Cup.” It has been outscored, 24-13, against Vermont in that stretch and trails 3-2 in the Governer’s Cup series with one game against Vermont remaining on the schedule.
“We didn’t eliminate the big innings,” said Szafarski, the second-year manager who led the Nighthawks to the NECBL’s best regular-season record in 2016. “They only scored in four innings. … In the second game, we got ourselves in good hitting counts and didn’t do anything with it. Didn’t make adjustments.”
Upper Valley managed six runs in Game 1, four on home runs, but couldn’t recover from a disastrous start from Troy’s Levi Thomas. It got next to nothing going in the nightcap.
Thomas began his fifth start of the summer by giving up a no-out grand slam to Vermont’s Nate Grys (Western Michigan) in the opening frame, part of a six-run Mountaineer barrage.
“It was just a day of not having your best stuff,” Thomas said. “It’s definitely frustrating; it’s not easy for anyone, but it’s just about battling through it and finding a groove you can get in. I definitely think we’ll figure it out pretty soon, because I think our team has a lot of potential.”
The Cullman, Ala., native fell to 0-3 with a 5.75 ERA in 20⅓ innings pitched this season.
“It’s definitely frustrating, going out there and not having your best stuff,” said Thomas, who was 2-0 with a 1.96 ERA in 41⅓ innings pitched with the Trojans this spring. “Coming off of a really good freshman season and coming into here and immediately struggling, it’s difficult. It seems like no matter what I do, another problem exposes itself.”
Upper Valley rallied in the next 5½ innings to cut Vermont’s lead to one. Thomas, Plymouth State’s David Sampson and Vanderbilt’s A.J. Franklin combined in the next five innings to allow no runs on five hits and one walk to stop the bleeding. Upper Valley’s offense, meanwhile, scattered five runs on nine hits over that same span.
Bryant Bowen (Southern Mississippi) and Anthony Quirion (Lamar) launched fourth-inning home runs in the rally. A two-run bomb from Anthony Meduri (Binghamton) in the sixth inning did the most damage, cutting the Mountaineers’ lead to 6-5 with one out. Riley Smith (Minnesota) and Ty Adcock (Elon) followed up with back-to-back singles, giving Upper Valley runners on second and third base and a chance to take the lead.
But the Nighthawks couldn’t deliver. Andrew Ciacciarelli, the newcomer signed this week from American International making his Upper Valley debut, struck out for the second out, and Chris Berry (North Florida) flew out to center field to end the threat.
Vermont took advantage by scoring four insurance runs on four hits and a walk in the top of the seventh against Franklin.
Upper Valley entered the weekend riding a three-game winning streak before a rainout on Saturday.
“They’ve been off for two days, so it’s really not an excuse,” Szafarski said. “We were playing really well going into that rainout; hopefully we can just continue it. This is a stretch in the dog days when you have to win these division games.”
Mountaineers starter John Cain (Manhattan) shut the Nighthawks down in game two, allowing only two runs on three hits and one walk with four strikeouts in six innings. Upper Valley stranded four runners in the game and scored both of its runs in the seventh inning.
Szafarski has become reliant on his struggling, bottom-of-the-order hitters to help win all-important divisional games down the stretch, especially with four position players now gone from the roster due to injuries. Upper Valley’s No. 7, No. 8 and No. 9 hitters were 3-for-17 with four strikeouts against the Mountaineers.
“Hopefully they can step up, have productive at-bats, hit with runners in scoring position,” Szafarski said. “If they do that, we’ll be fine. If not, it’s going to be tough these last couple of weeks.
“They have to hit for us to be successful and make the playoffs. You can’t have automatic outs down there. I’m hoping they can get it going a little bit and carry us in this back half.”
Notes: A combined four home runs in game one was the most in a single game at Maxfield in three NECBL seasons. Only 12 home runs have been hit at Maxfield this summer. … Nighthawks outfielder Anthony Meduri (Binghamton) was hit on the left arm with a pitch in the seventh inning of the nightcap, letting out a loud yell before throwing his helmet to the ground in pain. Meduri is the team’s only listed outfielder after injuries and departures last week left the Nighthawks shorthanded. He was pulled from the game and went through a lengthy examination with Upper Valley general manager Noah Crane. Meduri left the field early and went to the hospital. His status is questionable. … Pace’s Danny Wirchansky gets the start for Upper Valley today at the Winnipesaukee Muskrats, set for 6:30 p.m. at Robbie Mills Field in Laconia.
Josh Weinreb can be reached at jweinreb@vnews.com or 603-727-3306.