By: Shannon Bickert
The Schooners fell to the Nighthawks 5-3 on Thursday, July 2, at the Shipyard, snapping their three-game winning streak. With the loss, Mystic falls to 13-8 on the summer, while Upper Valley moves above .500.
Mystic’s starter, Ashton Arroyo (Georgetown), and Upper Valley’s starter, Anthony Bubba (Quinnipiac), exchanged 1-2-3 first innings to open the game.
The Schooners took the 1-0 lead in the second. Jamie Zee (Notre Dame) led off the inning with a base hit and stole second, his sixth stolen base of the summer. Zee moved to third on a Cam Righi (UConn) fly out, setting up Anthony Belisario (Portal) to drive in the first run of the day with a sacrifice fly.
After retiring the first seven batters he faced, Arroyo allowed his first hit of the night to Alejandro Puig (Dartmouth), an infield single. Frank Kelly (HPU) worked a walk, and Cam Boardman (NJIT) poked an RBI-single into shallow right field to tie the game.
Joel Collado (URI) led off the bottom of the third with a solo home run to right-center field, giving Mystic the 2-1 lead. The home run was Collado’s second of the summer.
The Nighthawks knotted things up in the fourth when Zev Salsberg (Bryant) took the bump for the Schooners. The Nighthawks opened the frame with back-to-back singles from Nick Quagliato (BC) and William Hurt (VT). Tim Dickinson (Saint Joe’s) loaded the bases with a walk, setting up Puig for a sacrifice fly to tie the score at two all.
Righi ripped a two-out single to left field and swiped second base in the fourth, but Bubba got out of the inning unscathed.
Upper Valley put up a two-out three-run rally in the fifth inning. Alex Kelsey (Kentucky) started the rally with a single. Quagliato and Hurt followed, wearing pitches in back-to-back at-bats to load the bases. Dickinson cleared the bases with a double deep to right field, giving the Nighthawks the 5-2 lead.
On the first pitch from the bullpen arm, Jackson Caldwell (UNCW), Justin Best (Manhattan) wore a pitch. Best swiped second and moved to third on Christian Butera’s (Brown) ground out. Jack Harley (Stetson) was hit by pitch to put runners on the corners. Caldwell got out of the self-inflicted jam, holding the Schooners scoreless in the fifth.
Mystic made their second call to the bullpen in the top of the sixth to MJ Bollinger (UConn). Bollinger was efficient, tossing a three-up, three-down frame with two strikeouts.
Anthony Ruggiero (Portal) led off the sixth inning with a 405-foot solo shot to cut the deficit to two runs. The long ball to right-center field was Ruggiero’s first home run of the summer.
The Nighthawks put two in scoring position in the top of the seventh, but Bollinger kept it a two-run ballgame.
Collado ripped a double deep to left-center field against Joey Young (Xaiver) in the seventh. The Schooners were unable to capitalize, stranding their backstop in scoring position.
In his third inning of relief, Bollinger sat down the Nighthawks in order.
The Schooners got a two-out baserunner in the eighth, Zee, who drew a walk, but Young held Mystic scoreless.
Connor Shaw (SDSU) faced two batters in the ninth, retiring both, before Connor Lane (UConn) took over to record the last out.
Mystic was unable to mount a comeback against Brendan Walker (Bryant), who tossed a 1-2-3 inning.
The Schooners take a road trip to face the Valley Blue Sox on Friday, July 3 before returning home for the holiday to host the Newport Gulls on Saturday, July 4.
