LYNN, Mass. —  For a few moments, it seemed possible, almost certain.

The Sanford Mainers were down 7-6 with two outs, but spirits were raised only moments earlier, when second baseman Joe Wendle whacked a triple into the gap in right field. Moments later, first baseman Mike Roth rocketed a fastball over the wall in right field on a 3-2 count to bring the Mainers within one run of the North Shore Navigators in the deciding game of the NECBL quarterfinal round.

It was up to leftfielder Mike McCaan to keep the game going. McCaan hit a strong ground ball to the right side of the infield. North Shore second baseman Matt Hamlet slid to his left collected the ball, and fired to first for the out.

And that was that.

Hugs and handshakes between teammates followed, as the Mainers season was officially over. The players will soon scatter throughout the country to get home, with only weeks remaining before the start of the school year.

“They’ve played like that all year. I don’t think they’ve mailed a game in yet, save for a couple of games where we didn’t play well, but we never quit,” Mainers coach Aaron Izaryk said. “We haven’t done it all year, I didn’t expect us to do it tonight. I asked to bring the tying run to the plate, and obviously, they did that. A couple hits either way and a couple plays either way and this would be a lot different. It could have been a blow out, or it could have reversed the fortunes. But I’m proud of this group of guys. They came together, and I told them they might not remember the record or what they hit or what their E.R.A. is, but they’ll certainly remember the kids they met this summer and the relationships they made.” 

North Shore moves on in the NECBL playoffs and will face Newport in the Eastern Division finals.

Izaryk said he will remember the core group of returners the most when looking back at the 2010 Mainers.

“The core of the team, I brought back the core returners,” Izaryk said. “You don’t get to bring back too many returners in this league, and I’d like to start where we do get returners back and it starts continuity, not only for the teammates but for our fans, and have guys familiar with Sanford and with the league. They can come in and hit the ground running. I was excited about what this team can do, and we reached the end of our road, and it’s unfortunate. It’s unfortunate in any season. It’s not a good feeling, and it kind of leaves us speechless.”

Sanford starting pitcher Mike Augliera ran into trouble right off the bat, literally, in the first inning. Jason Banos started the inning off with a double to the gap in right field, and moved to third after a base hit by Braxton Graven. Anthony Melchionda, a Boston College product, followed Graven with a three-run homer, hit just to the right of the foul pole in left field, to give the Navigators a 3-0 lead.

“It was a fastball up and in, I think he was trying to tie me up,” Melchionda said. “I just got the head up to it. I thought it was going to hook, I don’t hit too many balls down the line like that, so I was just sitting there watching it, kind of like Carlton Fisk. I was just yelling at it to stay straight and stay fair, and it did.”

The Mainers threatened in the second inning, with McCaan reaching first on an error and Doug Eliot smacking a base hit to right field with no outs.  Patrick then induced two flyouts to left field and a groundout to first to get out of the inning.

Augliera found more trouble in the bottom of the second, giving up a leadoff double to Jack Mayfield before Banos hit a groundball up the middle of the infield to plate Mayfield and raise the Navigators lead to 4-0. The Mainers responded with a run in the top of the third. After back-to-back walks to Joe Wendle and Roth,  McCaan hit a line drive to right field, scoring Wendle and making the score 4-1.

Augliera started to settle down on the mound, and looked stronger in the later innings, retiring six straight batters and allowing only one hit in his next four innings of work, including two strikeouts in the sixth inning, his final inning of work. He took the loss, pitching  five innings, allowing seven hits, five earned runs, striking out three batters and walking one.

After walking Bryce Tafelski in the sixth, Alex Caravella came in and immediately gave up an RBI double to Dario Pizzaro to plate Tafelski and bring the North Shore lead to four runs with a 5-1 score.

The Mainers could only get one hit off Patrick between innings three through six, but came around in the seventh, collecting three runs on three hits, thanks to a little life from the bottom of the order.

Matt Marra and Dillon Checkal started the inning off with back-to-back singles. After a double steal, Pat Cantwell smacked a single to right field, plating Marra and bringing the score to 5-2. At that point Patrick was pulled in favor of Dan Duval, who did not fare any better, as Wendle plated Checkal with an RBI groundout,  and allowed Cantwell to score from third on a wild pitch. After back-to-back walks, Duval induced an Eliot groundout, but not before Sanford cut it to 5-4.

Patrick picked up the win with more than six innings of work, giving up six hits, two walks, four earned runs, and two strikeouts.

North Shore picked up two more runs in the eighth, thanks to an RBI single by Pizzano. Tafelski scored moments later on a passed ball, and the Navigators enjoyed a 7-4 lead.

Bryant Gauthier, who pitched a clean eighth inning for North Shore, gave up the triple to Wendle and the home run to Roth, but finished out the contest and clinched the win and the series for the Navigators.

Melchionda gave the Mainers perhaps the best compliment an opposing player can give.

“All year they’ve scrapped with us,” Melchionda said. “They’re a good team, well coached. They like to put pressure on us, bunt guys around. They’re never out of a game.”

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318.