The Martha’s Vineyard Sharks busted out their bats over the weekend and dusted off the Danbury Westerners, 15-6, on Saturday in the Nutmeg State, and the New Bedford Bay Sox, by a 13-4 count, back home at the Tank on a sweltering Sunday night.
The Sharks have won three straight games and 14 in the last 18 to claim the best record in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) at 22-13.
In Danbury, the Sharks got even with the Westerners, who ended an 11-game Vineyard winning streak in their last encounter on July 13. Matt Chamberlain hit the third pitch of the game out of the park and the Sharks socked five more homers. Anthony Videtto and Jackson Raper belted two apiece and Kai Nelson went yard in the ninth inning to go with a double in the third, and a single in the eighth. Alan Burnsed and Nick Raposo each singled and doubled.
Sharks southpaw Daniel Hegarty got the start and improved to 4-1 on the season, pitching five and two-thirds innings, allowing five runs on nine hits, with seven K’s and one walk.
On Sunday night in Oak Bluffs, the Sharks homered three times and finished the game with 14 hits.
New Bedford scored a run in its first at-bat, but the Sharks responded with nine unanswered to seize control of the game. Rudy Aguilar, who went 3 for 4 on the night, scored the Sharks first run in the third inning on a Matt Chamberlain fielder’s choice. After Collin Shapiro singled, Alan Burnsed jacked the ball to deep center for a three-run homer to make it 4-1.
Chamberlain started off the fourth inning with a spectacular grab in center field, extending his glove well above the fence to rob New Bedford’s Paul Gozzo of a sure home run. In the home half of the inning, the Sharks took a 6-1 lead on a Burnsed walk with the bases loaded and Anthony Videtto’s RBI-single.
In the New Bedford fifth, Collin Shapiro gave the Sharks their second web gem of the evening with a diving catch in left. At the plate, M.V. added another run after Rudy Aguilar hit a seeing-eye single past the shortstop to score Josh Spiegel.
Spiegel, an Oklahoma State sophomore, playing in front of his parents, grandparents and brother, who made the trip from Pittsburgh, doubled in the sixth inning to score Nander De Sedas and came home on another RBI-single by Aguilar for a 9-1 lead.
New Bedford rallied for three runs in the seventh, but the Sharks responded with four. Matt Chamberlain led-off with a stand-up double before Kai Nelson and Alan Burnsed blasted back-to-back homers and Nander De Sedas scored on an errant throw by the pitcher.
Jack Sheehan was the winning pitcher, allowing one run on six hits, with a pair of K’s and walks through the first six innings. Jackson Vescelus and Chris Stefl each pitched an inning of scoreless relief.
