SANFORD —There was no worry of late inning drama amongst the fans at Goodall Park on Friday night.

Instead, the 548 in attendance witnessed a solid offensive outing by the Sanford Mainers, who defeated the Laconia Muskrats 5-1.

With the win, the Mainers improved their record to 4-1 on the season, with a four-game win streak, and moved into first place in the NECBL Eastern Division standings.

Sanford scored four runs in the first inning. Paul Kronenfeld smacked an RBI double to left field to plate Mike Montville for the 1-0 lead, before Jose Torralba hit a two-run double to score both Kronenfeld and Nick LaCroix for the 3-0 lead. Torralba later scored on Mike Verrier’s RBI single.

The Mainers notched their final run in the fifth inning when Lincoln Sanborn scored from third base on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Kronenfeld. In total, Sanford collected 10 hits on the evening, including 2 for 4 performances by LaCroix and Brett Mollenhauer.

While Sanford head coach Aaron Izaryk was happy with the offensive output, he said there is still work to be done.

“Offensively, we’ve got to cut down on strikeouts,” Izaryk said. “We know about it, we’ve got to address it, go at it in (batting practice). Ten games in 10 days is a good way to start it.”

The Mainers also continued their dominance on the mound with a strong pitching performance by University of Maine hurler A.J. Bazdanes. Working 7 2/3 innings, Bazdanes allowed no runs on three hits while striking out eight batters, with one walk.

Carson Cross came in to relieve Bazdanes in the eighth inning, allowing one run on one hit with two strikeouts.

“I’m just looking to throw strikes,” Bazdanes said. “That’s it. I’ve got four pitches, and I want to throw them all for strikes.”

Bazdanes’ performance impressed Izaryk.

“We needed that performance out of him,” Izaryk said. “Going into a long stretch (of games), to have your starter go 7 2/3 innings and give you a chance to rest your bullpen. He had all his pitches going tonight. He competed his tail off, and if he can continue to do that, he’s going to have one heck of a summer.”

In its first five games on the season, the Sanford pitching staff boasts an E.R.A. of 1.80, with an opponent batting average of .173.

“We have a lot of seasoned guys,” Bazdanes said. “We’ve got a lot of good bullpen guys. We’ve got (Izaryk) who was a pitching coach at the University of Maine with me and Balentina. We’ve got (Sanford pitching coach) Lee Jatkevicius working with us. It’s a big team effort, and if everybody wasn’t playing as one, we wouldn’t be winning ballgames.”

The Mainers go back to work again tonight, in their first ever contest against the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide, which will be played at Goodall Park at 6:30. Both squads were set to meet on June 10, which was scheduled to be played at The Ballpark in Old Orchard Beach, but the game was postponed due to rain. The Raging Tide enter the contest at 1-4 after losing 8-2 to the North Shore Navigators on Friday night.

Short Hops: With pitcher Will Clinard and outfielder Jack Lupo both still playing for Vanderbilt in the NCAA Division I College World Series, Izaryk said he is looking to add one more pitcher to the roster.

“Chances are, we’ll add one more arm,” Izaryk said. “We have a roster of 27, and I’ve been talking to a couple of guys who have been here before. If we add a guy, and get the two Vandy guys, we should be in good shape.””¦

Infielder Marlon Calbi pulled up lame after hitting a double in the fifth inning, and was replaced on the bases by Lincoln Sanborn, who later scored. Izaryk called the leg injury “day-to-day””¦

LaCroix has now collected a hit in all five games thus far in the season for the Mainers, and two hits in each of the last four games, leading the team with a .500 batting average.

— Contact Dave Dyer at 282-1535 ext. 318 or follow on Twitter @Dave_Dyer