SANFORD — The lead was safe, the closer was ready to go, and Colin Snow had nothing left to prove.

Except, perhaps to himself.

Which was as good a reason as any to hang on to the ball and hurl a complete seven-inning three hitter to help the Sanford Mainers take a 5-1 triumph in Game 2 of a double-header with the Pittsfield American Defenders.

The Mainers dropped the opener, 3-2, in eight innings.

Snow (3-0) was superb throughout his stint, retiring the first 12 Defenders in order, and allowing just four base runners all night.

Three of those came in the fifth inning, when Pittsfield scraped up a 1-0 lead.

However, Snow’s mates, appreciative of what he had been giving them, rebounded with four runs in the bottom of that frame.

“He pitched a great game today,” said right fielder Chris Spatkowski, whose two run single gave the Mainers the lead for good. “That’s all you can ask for and more from a pitcher. When a pitcher’s throwing like that, we knew were going to come through for him and get him the win.”

Snow, who will be a sophomore at Georgia Southern, was at his best in the early innings.

He needed just nine pitches to retire the Defenders in the third inning, and 10 more to set them down in the fourth.

“My arm was a little bit more alive than usual,” Snow said. “So I got away with a few that I didn’t locate. But the key for me was changing speeds. Location started coming back. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t where I needed it to be. So changing speeds was the big factor.”

Snow hit a speed bump in the fifth, putting himself in a bases-loaded, one-out jam.

However, he escaped with minimal damage, which was quickly forgotten when the Mainers struck back in the bottom of the inning and took a 4-1 lead.

“It’s one of those things,” said Snow, “that when (the hitters) respond when I’m struggling, and pick me up, that means the world to me.”

Snow pitched a perfect sixth inning, and at that point might have called it a night.

After all, Mainers closer Tyler Mizenko was loose and ready to go.

However, when the Mainers took the field for the top of the seventh, Snow went back out with them.

“He was really pitching well,” said Sanford manager Aaron Izaryk. “Colin was doing such a good job. I thought he deserved a change to go for the complete game.”

Snow allowed a lead off single, then got the final three batters on infield outs.

It was his first complete game in almost two years.

“High school was the last (one),” said Snow. “It means a lot to me that the coaches trust me enough to put me out there to finish it off when we have a good lead.”

The first game started off well enough for the Mainers.

They used a bit of small ball in the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, then scraped out another run in the fourth in the same manner.

Matt Marra scored the first run, after working a one out walk off Pittsfield starter Corey Davisson, a former Boston Red Sox draft pick who never signed with them.

Marra swiped second, took third on a balk, then came home when Dylan Pratt served a 2-2 offering into left field.

Pratt made it 2-0 after doubling to lead off the fourth, and later scampering home from third on a wild pitch.

Meanwhile, Sanford starter Chad O’Connor was nearly unsolvable through the first five innings, having allowed just a harmless pair of singles during that stretch.

However in the sixth, O’Connor issued a one-out walk to John Parke, the served up a two run homer to Jimmy Waters that dropped over the right field wall to knot the score, 2-2.

Two innings later, Waters drove in the game winning run with with a bloop single to right off reliever Neil Holland.

CHIN MUSIC: Sanford served as the visiting team in the first game, which was a make up for last week’s rainout in Pittsfield. ”¦ The Mainers, who are at home each night this week through Thursday, will host the North Shore Navigators tonight (6:35 p.m.). RHP Matt Murray (1-1, 1.19) will get the start for Sanford.

— Contact Dan Hickling at dhickling@journaltribune.com.