Three weeks into the New England Collegiate Baseball League season, the Valley Blue Sox find themselves in the thick of the hunt.
The Blue Sox were 8-6 overall entering Friday night’s game with Sanford, three-and-a-half games behind the Bristol Blues (12-3) for first place in the NECBL’s West Division. Thursday night’s 5-3 road victory over the Blues halted Bristol’s nine-game winning streak, an impressive performance that was buoyed by Bowling Green’s Jack Krause’s first home run of the year in the fourth inning.
Brian Strange (Mineral Area JC) picked up the win for Valley after striking out five in three innings. Jacob Terwilliger (Bucknell) earned the save.
Pitching has been a key cog in the Blue Sox’ early success. The staff’s ERA was just 3.25 entering Friday, and the team has recorded 138 strikeouts in 130 innings of work. Atop that rotation has been the trio of Emmanuel Corporan (Hartford), Jordan Yoder (Lafayette) and Terwilliger. Corporan is 1-0 with a 1.28 ERA in 14 innings of work so far, while Yoder and Terwilliger both have ERA’s under 1 to go along with 1-0 records with a save apiece.
Offensively, outfielder Sam Franco has a team-leading three home runs and five RBIs on the year to go with a .261 batting average. The Purdue product has also scored a team-high 10 runs.
Hope International University’s Robert Mattei has the most hits on the roster (13), and he’s come on strong with hits in each of his last four games to get his average up to .250. Eastern Illinois’ Lucas DiLuca has drawn a team-high 10 walks in 12 games of action.
Amherst College’s Christian Fagnant, who hails from nearby East Granby, Conn., has three hits in 10 at-bats so far this summer.
The team to catch through the early portion of the NECBL season hails from the Green Mountain state, as the Vermont Mountaineers were 14-1 entering Friday’s action – good enough for a 6½ game lead in the North Division. The Mountaineers come to Mackenzie Stadium for a game on Wednesday.
Beyond Vermont and Bristol, it’s been a very balanced league, as 10 teams have between six and eight wins, including the Blue Sox.
There’s plenty of baseball in the Paper City this weekend. On Saturday, Valley welcomes the Upper Valley Knighthawks to Holyoke for a 6:35 p.m. start. On Sunday, the Bristol Blues are in town for a 5:05 start. Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under. For more information visit valleybluesox.com or call (413) 533-1100.