SANFORD — So far this season, the Sanford Mainers’ recipe for victory has been strong pitching, with just enough offense sprinkled in.

On Wednesday night against Mystic, they had another ingredient to the winning formula: defense.

Locked in a close game all night, Sanford saved two runs on a pair of fantastic throws from the outfield ”“ one on a relay by Cory Raley, another on a throw from short right field by Walker Pennington ”“ to gun down two Schooners at the plate and preserve narrow leads, pivotal plays as Sanford went on to a 5-4 victory over the Schooners in an New England Collegiate Baseball League game at Goodall Park.

It was the eighth win in a row and 12th in the last 13 for the Mainers (15-8), who haven’t lost since June 27 and preserved their one-game lead over Vermont at the top of the Northern Division.

“You’ve got to make great plays to win, and we had some big ones,” Sanford manager Aaron Izaryk said. “That relay play, Corey throwing the ball on the money and Walker coming up with the throw on that bleeder, that’s two runs that were cut down.

“It’s good to have a team that prides itself on playing defense, and defense will win you games every now and again.”

Pennington, a sophomore out of Texas Christian University who joined the Mainers late after the Horned Frogs made a run to the College World Series, had his best night in a Mainers uniform, going 2-for-3 with a RBI and run scored.

That included a leadoff double down the left-field line to start off the third, the first of four extra base hits in the inning for Sanford as it took a 3-1 lead. For a player who had been hitting just .125 in seven games heading into the at-bat, it was a big hit.

“That first at-bat, just hitting a ball well, seeing it land and getting extra bases, it just kind of gave me more confidence the rest of the game,” Pennington said. “I just wanted to get a good pitch and put a good swing on it because I’ve been kind of rushing at the plate, getting anxious.”

“He didn’t play a lot (at TCU) and was a little rusty, but now that he’s got his feet wet, I think you’re going to see the real Walker Pennington at this point,” Izaryk said. “He’s starting to barrel balls and really play with some confidence, and we’re looking forward to seeing the rest.”

But Pennington’s biggest contribution came in the field in the seventh inning, when Mystic, trailing 5-2, was threatening with runners on second and third with one out.

Andrew Hinckley then stepped to the plate and hit a blooper that fell just over the head of second baseman Nick Lovullo and in front of an onrushing Pennington. But with Dan Hoy having to hold up at third to see if the ball would be caught, Pennington picked up the ball and threw a one bounce strike to catcher Stevie Berman, getting Hoy by two steps.

“I just tried to bluff it as hard as it could,” Pennington said of the throw. “I figured neither me or Lovullo was going to get to it, and I just kind of freaked out when I got there and threw it. I didn’t know where the runner was, it was just a lucky guess, a lucky play.”

While Sanford’s defense would come up big late, it was shaky early, allowing the Schooners to take an early lead. Mystic’s Jared Hendron reached on a throwing error by Lovullo, stole second and then scored when Toby Handley’s grounder down the third base line found its way underneath the glove of Caden Bailey.

After Sanford came back to take a 3-1 lead, Mystic (15-8) again got to Mainers starter Christian Lavoie in the fourth as Brad Zunica led off with a single and tried to score as Hoy lined a ball into the left-centerfield gap for a triple. But Sanford leftfielder Dan Hetzel got to the ball quickly and fired to shortstop Raley, who turned and threw a seed to Berman to nail Zunica at the plate.

The Schooners did score later in the inning to get within 3-2, but Sanford scored twice in the sixth on a Pennington sacrifice fly and Bailey two-out single on a hit and run play to up the lead to 5-2.

Mystic was able to get one back in the seventh as Jared Hendron singled home Aaron Hill one batter after Pennington’s great throw, and closed to within 5-4 as Tyler Boyd led off the eighth with a double off Mainers reliever Nick Poore, advancing to third on a groundout and then scoring on a wild pitch.

The Schooners had a chance to get even closer as back-to-back walks to Zunica and Hoy put the tying and go-ahead runs on base, but Sanford reliever Jonathan Chudy buckled down to strike out Hill and induce a tame groundout from Louis Ianotti to get out of the inning.

“I just wanted to get out of the inning with no runs scored,” Chudy said. “So it was just throw strikes.”

“Chuds is the right guy right now,” Izaryk said of Chudy, who now sports a 1.00 ERA. “He throws strikes, he’s tough on lefties and he does a good job on righties. Nothing bothers him; he does a lot of things really, really well.”

Cam Hatch came on and pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his sixth save, and Sanford had its eighth win in a row ”“ one short of the team record of nine consecutive wins set from June 18-28 during the Mainers’ 2008 championship season.

“The chemistry is just so great on this team,” Pennington said. “We won’t play pretty like tonight, but we’re still figuring out a way to scrap runs without hits. We have great pitching, and we let the other teams make mistakes and play sound baseball.”

MOOSE TRACKS: Lavoie gave up one unearned run in five innings, dropping his ERA to 1.45, to pick up the win ”¦ With the two hits, Pennington is now hitting .211 ”¦ The Mainers will continue this week’s four-game-in-five-days homestand when they take on the Keene Swamp Bats at 6:30 p.m. Friday night. Ben Wessel (0-1, 2.57 ERA) will get the start for the Mainers. Sanford holds a 2-1 edge in the two teams’ season series so far.

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com.