Gliders nip Spinners in one-run battle
Jun. 28—The raw stats suggest that the Sanford Spinners should have had victory in their Saturday evening contest against the Oak City Gliders. Unfortunately, the Spinners were too inefficient on both the offensive and defensive ends, and it added up to a 4-3 defeat at Raleigh's Optimist Park.
The Spinners (10-4) never led in the game despite outhitting the Gliders (6-8) by a margin of 14-6. Sanford committed four errors to just two for their hosts, and two of the four Oak City runs were unearned. The Gliders won the game by pushing across a run in the bottom of the seventh inning after Sanford had tied the game at 3 in the top half of the inning.
This didn't end play, since Old North State League games are for a full nine innings. In the top of the ninth, the Spinners had a golden opportunity when their first three batters of the inning, Tyson Measamer, Colby Warren and Ryan Miller, hit three consecutive singles to load the bases with no one out. However, the next batter struck out on four pitches, and then the game ended on a 6-4-3 double play.
This was the sort of thing that held the Spinners back throughout the evening. Sanford left men in scoring position in the first, second, fourth, seventh, eighth and ninth innings. They lost the fourth and ninth to an inning-ending double play, and in the seventh, a bid to take the lead ended when Noah Kessler was thrown out at home with two out after trying to score from second base on a Kaden Sigmon single.
The Gliders took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off Spinners starter Nathan O'Brochta, who had a bout of wildness in the inning and hit the first two men to come to bat. Oak City decided to play for a 2-0 lead and the next man laid down a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners up. They cashed in when a groundout was misplayed and allowed both to score.
The Spinners tied it up on a two-out rally in the fifth. Vince Sabatino drew a walk, stole second base, and scored on a single by Kessler. Kessler moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a single by Sigmon.
However, two Gliders hits sandwiched around an error allowed the home team to retake the lead at 3-2 in the bottom half of the inning.
The Spinners tied it again in the seventh, thanks to a leadoff single by Warren and a two-out RBI single by Kessler. But they once more allowed a go-ahead run in the bottom half of the inning.
The team didn't want for hits. Sigmon went 3-for-3 with an RBI, Kessler was 2-for-5 and drove in two runs, Warren had two hits, as did Justin Marshall and Jonah Ravelo. Ravelo had a double and a triple but was stranded both times.
The Spinners return to action Wednesday night at home against a team from the western conference, the High Point Hushpuppies, who are 10-3 this season and should make for a marquee matchup and possible playoff preview. The first pitch will be at 7 p.m. at Tramway Park.
