SANFORD — The forecast called for rain with a chance of gloom for the Sanford Mainers.

North Adams SteepleCats beat Sanford 9-3 on Wednesday night in front of 411 loyal fans at Goodall Park. The game was the only NECBL contest that was not postponed due to rain, but was cut short after a full five innings due to poor field conditions.

With the loss, the Mainers fell to 6-4 on the season, and share a first place lead in the NECBL Eastern Division standings with the Newport Gulls.

“It’s not a perfect day,” Mainers head coach Aaron Izaryk said. “You deal with a little bit of adversity with the wet ball. We didn’t do to well today. I told the guys, whether you play five innings, 10 innings today, we didn’t play well enough to win. We didn’t deserve to win. We threw the ball around a little bit. We didn’t pitch well enough to win. Offensively, we’re getting closer, but we’re not there yet.”

Sanford took a 2-0 lead in the second inning when third baseman Pat Devlin plated catcher Matt Verrier with an RBI single to left field. Mainers second baseman Jose Torralba scored moments later on an error.

But the SteepleCats took advantage of a rare off day by the Sanford pitching staff. North Adams collected two runs in the top of the third, and scored another three runs in the fourth, highlighted by an RBI triple by left fielder Chantz Mack.

Sanford scored its final run in the fourth when Ryan Coppinger scored on an RBI single by Paul Kronenfeld. However, the SteepleCats kept the runs coming, collecting four more runs in the fifth inning.

Torralba led all Mainers hitters by going 2 for 3 at the plate.

Mainers starting pitcher Jonathan Reich allowed five runs on nine hits in 3 2/3 innings of work, while reliever Ryan Leach allowed three runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning of work. Sanford had entered the contest with a staff ERA of 2.49.

Trent Franzago pitched all five innings for North Adams, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out seven batters.

The rain, which started as a light mist in the beginning of the contest, became more of a factor in the third inning. By the fifth inning, Izaryk and the umpires walked around the diamond to check the field conditions, and opted for a delay to see if the rain would lighten up. After 25 minutes, the game was called.

It’s the second win of the season for the SteepleCats, who entered the game with a 1-9 record, last amongst the teams in the Western Division standings.

“That’s the parity of this league,” Izaryk said. “They’ve got some athletes over there. They haven’t been hitting well, and when the dam breaks, unfortunately, we were on the other end.”

Sanford travels to play the North Shore Navigators tonight. University of Maine hurler A.J. Bazdanes gets the start for the Mainers. The contest will start at 6:30.

Short Hops: It was announced during the game that Kronenfeld, Bazdanes and outfielder Mike Montville have been selected to play for Team NECBL in its contest against Team USA on June 27 at Fenway Park in Boston.

Kronenfeld, a Georgia Tech product, is hitting .313 on the year, and shares the team lead in RBIs with eight. Montville, from the University of Maryland, is hitting .189 with a home run and six RBIs. Bazdanes collected NECBL Pitcher of the Week honors last week for his performance against the Laconia Muskrats, going 7 2/3 innings, allowing no runs on three hits while striking out eight batters in a 5-1 win. It’s been Bazdanes’ only start of the season thus far.

“It’s nice for those three guys,” Izaryk said. “They’re three deserving individuals, three deserving pro prospects. It’s nice for us to get some visibility down there. With multiple guys on the team, it shows the kind of guys we bring in here to play in the summer. I’m looking forward to see how they do on Monday.”

A surprise snub from the team was outfielder Nick LaCroix. The Franklin Pierce University prospect is leading the Mainers with a .405 batting average, which ranks him fifth in the NECBL.

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