LACONIA, NH—The Valley Blue Sox took advantage of early miscues by the Laconia Muskrats and late-inning dominance by Henry Van Zant in a 6-3 victory at Robbie Mills Park to keep their playoff hopes alive in the North Division.
Valley improves to 12-23 on the year.
The Muskrats had all manner of difficulty fielding the ball in the first, as Angelo La Bruna reached on an error, Frank Crinella put down a sacrifice bunt and reached on another error, Justin Hazard hit an RBI groundout to score La Bruna, and Nick Lynch reached on an error that brought Crinella in. Dylan Delso hit a blooper to center that fell in and took second in the confusion, and Garrett Black hit a sacrifice fly to score Lynch.
However, the Muskrats got two of their own in the bottom half, as an E6, two singles, and an RBI groundout cut it to 3-2.
Valley was not done, and regained the three run edge with a big second frame. Christopher Lowery and Kevin Barker led off with singles, and after a wild pitch advanced them, Lowery scored on a groundout by La Bruna before Crinella singled in Barker.
From there, Zach Strecker dominated. He spread eight hits over six innings, allowing just three unearned with one walk and three strikeouts.
It was in the sixth that an odd sequence allowed Laconia to score. Two men were already out when Strecker got strike three swinging, but a passed ball allowed the man to reach; two hits later he scored. Strecker got out of the inning with no further damage, however.
In the ninth, Lynch and Delso singled, and Storm Wilson was intentionally walked; Lowery hit a sac fly to make it 6-3.
Henry Van Zant, who had come on in the seventh and been effective already, turned it up, striking out the side in the ninth to punctuate the win; he ended with a save over three no-hit, one walk innings with six total strikeouts.
The Blue Sox look to keep it rolling when they visit Goodall Park and the Sanford Mainers tomorrow for a 6:30 p.m. start.