SANFORD — The Sanford Mainers finally received some timely hitting Tuesday night.

The problem was they ended up giving up more than they received.

The Mainers dug themselves into a big hole but still managed to rally late before finally conceding a 10-8 decision to the New Bedford Bay Sox in a New England Collegiate Baseball League game played at Goodall Park.

“We got some clutch hits tonight,” said Mainers head coach Aaron Izaryk. “But we just opened it up too much.”

Sanford (12-20) mounted a valiant bid to overtake the Bay Sox in the latter stages of the game after falling behind 9-2 through 6 1/2 innings.

The Mainers scored three times in the seventh, highlighted by a two-out run-scoring triple by Paul Kronenfeld, to make it a 9-5 game.

New Bedford (23-14) got a run back in the eighth but Sanford rallied again in its half of the inning to close the gap. The Mainers made it a 10-8 game with three more runs as they sent nine men to the plate in the inning. Gavin Stark hit his second double of the game during the uprising that featured five hits. The frame came to an end with the bases loaded when Jose Torralba’s broken-bat grounder led to the final out.

New Bedford reliever Samuel Dodge struck out the side in the ninth to close out the Mainers.

“We just try to take it one at-bat at a time and try to chip away and string together good at-bat after good at-bat,” Sanford outfielder Ino Patron said. “We don’t give up no matter what the score is. Our coach always tells us, ”˜Don’t give up. Just keep playing hard and see what happens.’”

Patron reached base five times with two doubles and two singles. He also stole three bases and scored two runs.

The Livermore, Calif., native exemplified the way he approaches the game in the third when he got the Mainers on the board to make it a 3-1 game. He got things going by registering a pure-hustle double after cranking a pitch off the right-field wall and beating the throw to second. Patron then stole third and scored on a Jordan Hagel sacrifice fly.

“I think people are starting to learn the real Ino Patron right now,” said Izaryk. “He had a hamstring pull when he showed up and played with it but his whole game wasn’t complete. I think you’re seeing that he can really be a table-setter for us and a spark plug.”

The Mainers missed a prime opportunity to put the Bay Sox into an early hole when they loaded the bases in the first. But, after surrendering back-to-back two-out walks, New Bedford starter Colton Cross (4-2) got out of the jam by getting Jose Torralba to fly out to right.

Cross settled in after his rough start and allowed only four baserunners and one run during the next four innings before leaving the game after the fifth with a 5-1 lead.

The Bay Sox drew first blood when they scored three times in the second inning. Zack Graczyk started the inning with a walk off Mainers’ starter Nate Jones (0-4). Alex Baldock followed with a double to center that just eluded a diving Hagel, scoring the first run. Peyton Hart and Brendan O’Brien added run-scoring singles to give New Bedford a 3-0 lead.

New Bedford seemingly took over the game in the seventh when it scored four runs in a bat-around inning to grab a 9-2 advantage.

— Contact Mark Jeanneret at 282-1535, Ext. 323.