SANFORD — As the saying goes, in baseball you win some, you lose some and some get rained out.

Two out of three happened for the Sanford Mainers on Thursday night, and neither was the one they wanted.

Down 2-1, but with a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the eighth, undefeated Mother Nature stopped them in their tracks as she turned what was a steady drizzle into an all-out downpour.

The teams attempted to wait things out, but the rain didn’t let up. Umpires called the game at 10 p.m. after they deemed the field at Goodall Park unplayable after an 89-minutes delay.

It was a frustrating end as Sanford had battled to stay in the game and scored its only run in the seventh on a John Howell two-out single.

“It wasn’t meant to be tonight,” Sanford manager Aaron Izaryk said. “We did what we needed to do and unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate with us tonight. We did everything we could ”“ we waited, we waited, we took care of the field the best we could and we were one hit away.”

The Mainers had had two opportunities to score sooner, first when Nic Wilson led off the fourth inning with a booming triple off the left-centerfield wall.

But three outs later, Wilson was still standing on third, with Phil Mosey and Scott Heath strikeouts sandwiching a Cole Martin grounder to second on which Wilson couldn’t score.

The second chance came in the sixth as Sam Balzano led off with a single and advanced to second as Vermont centerfielder Chandler Brock misplayed the ball.

But again, Sanford failed to convert, as a pair of flyouts to center and a Mosey strikeout also left Balzano stranded on third.

“You’ve got to have productive at bats,” Izaryk said. “We’ve talked about that all year and we need to take care of our at bats early in the game and really focus on getting guys in. We need to find a way to get a guy in from third base with less than two outs.”

Sanford finally broke through in the seventh as Howell pushed a single through the right side to score Martin, and it could have been more as Troy Black followed with a single to put runners at first and third.

Balzano then hit a grounder to shortstop and Black looked close to beating the throw to second, but was called out to prevent Howell from scoring the tying run.

Sanford had another opportunity to tie it up in the eighth as Jake Thomas led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a passed ball. But Wilson struck out and the skies opened soon after, leaving the Mainers out in the rain.

“Believe it or not stuff like this can bring a team together pretty quick,” said Izaryk, whose team has had four games affected by weather so far this week. “They’re all feeling the same way and they’re all frustrated because they know they’re getting some games taken away from them by the weather.”

James Bourque started for Sanford and gave up four hits in five innings, striking out five. His only blemish came in the third, when a Mike Triller single plated Kyle Smith.

The Mainers had a chance to retire Smith earlier in the inning when he was caught in a rundown, but Wilson couldn’t handle a throw from second baseman Black.

“It’s part of the game and it’s on me as the pitcher to make the big pitch and try to get out of it,” Bourque said of the miscue. “I had a couple opportunities to do that, but unfortunately gave up a hit.”

The Mountaineers added to the lead in the sixth, when a leadoff walk cost Mainers reliever Charlie Butler as Triller scored on Kenny Towns’ two-out double for what turned out to be the game-winner.

Joey Graziano threw six scoreless innings to pick up the win for Vermont, which improved to a Western-Division leading 11-4.

The Mainers dropped to 7-7 and will return to action Saturday, when they’ll make their first-ever trip to New York to take on Saratoga Springs at 6:30 p.m.

MOOSE TRACKS: Sanford isn’t back at home until July 6, when it takes on the Laconia Muskrats at 6:30 p.m. ”¦  Zander Wiel didn’t start for the first time since joining the Mainers on June 17 and is day-to-day with a left-wrist injury ”¦ Nick Poore is expected to get the start against Saratoga. The lefty started Tuesday against Plymouth, but threw just one inning before umpires postponed the game.

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 323.