Box Score

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Trailing by a run, 2-1, entering the home half of the sixth, the North Adams SteepleCats exploded for eight runs in a single inning to propel them to an 11-3 victory over the visiting Holyoke Blue Sox in a New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) Western Division showdown on Sunday night at Joe Wolfe Field.

After the start of the game was delayed nearly 90 minutes due to rain in the area, the SteepleCats (18-13) erased an early 2-0 deficit and capitalized on three Blue Sox (11-19) errors in an unforgettable sixth inning to saw them go ahead by a 9-2 margin.

Helping the cause on offense was Charlie Law (Rutgers), who homered for his third-straight game to up his team-leading total to five long balls on the year. The first baseman finished with a game-high three hits and three runs scored while driving in three.

Picking up his first victory as a starter in the process, Brian Hunter (Hartford) allowed the only two hits that Holyoke would muster over the course of the game – both back-to-back doubles in the top of the first – before settling in and finishing with a dominant seven-inning outing. The righty struck out six and walked two to lower his season ERA to 4.74 and improve to 1-1 on the year.

His counterpart, lefty Chris O’Hare, was cruising through his first three-plus innings before being tagged for a run in the fourth and six more in the sixth. He would strike out an impressive nine batters while walking four and yielding six hits and took the loss.

After Sheehan Planas-Arteaga (Barry) pulled the ‘Cats to within a run on an RBI single in the bottom of the fourth, Law led off the sixth with a full-count walk and moved to third on a two-base error. Brett Clements (Nova Southeastern) would single him home to tie the game before stealing second and moving to third on an error. Moments later, Will Klausing (UT-Pan American) knocked in the go-ahead run to score Clements, as North Adams was just getting started in the multi-run sixth.

Planas-Arteaga drew a one-out walk and Adrian English (Barry) singled to load the bases, setting up a sacrifice fly for Conor Biggio (Notre Dame) and another RBI single for Julian Santos (Miami) to up the edge to 5-2. After a walk loaded the bases and a wild pitch drew in another run, Law teed off against new pitcher Josh Mason for a three-run jack to stretch the lead to 9-2 and complete the plentiful inning.

The Blue Sox would tack on a late unearned run against Hunter, but that would be it, as the ‘Cats added two more late runs that proved to be unnecessary, as Adam Sargent (Miami) and Bubba Baroniel (Nova Southeastern) kept Holyoke off the board in the last two innings.

The SteepleCats return to action on Tuesday, July 17, after a day off tomorrow. North Adams begins a home-and-home series starting at Vermont, with first pitch from the Montpelier Recreation Field set for 6:30 p.m. The following day, Wednesday, July 16, the Mountaineers will make the return trip for a 6:30 p.m. showdown at Joe Wolfe Field.

---GO STEEPLECATS---