SANFORD – The Moose brought the thunder as the offense took center stage in a tight 6-5 win against the Winnipesaukee Muskrats. Two balls left Goodall Park off of two different Mainer bats, giving Sanford the firepower they needed to pull through.

The Muskrats opened the scoring in controversial fashion with two outs in the third inning, giving them their first lead of the 2019 season. Initially, Shane Marshall (Webster, N.Y./Binghamton) looked to keep the game scoreless with his defensive heroics after a diving catch robbed designated hitter Sam Cochrane of extra bases and a run batted in. However, moments later, the game’s three umpires conferred and decided that the ball hit the ground in right-center field first, granting Cochrane a double and the Muskrats the game’s first run.

Their lead would be short-lived as the Mainers answered back in the bottom half of that inning. Just three pitches in, Drew DeMartino (Pittsfield, Mass./Hartford) cleared the short porch in right field to tie the score. The home run was the team’s first of the season.

Just moments later, Winnipesaukee found themselves back in front. Tatum Levins, who reached on an error to open the frame, scampered home two batters later when Brayden Cooney roped a Jake Noviello (Franklin, Mass./Fairfield) fastball through the right side of the infield.

It didn’t take long for the Moose to answer back as the offense came alive in the bottom of the fourth. Against a fatiguing Muskrat starter in Chris McGrory, Ryan Daues (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Tufts) drove a double off the wall in straightaway center field to score Robbie Armitage (Falmouth, Maine/Marist) to re-tie the game, missing a home run by a matter of feet.

Not to be outdone, immediately following a Sterling Hayes (San Diego, Calif./Vanderbilt) walk, Marshall sent the Goodall Park crowd into a frenzy, crushing a no-doubt home run into the creek behind the left field wall to cap off a four-run inning. After he made contact, Marshall took a few seconds to appreciate his powerful swing, sending a statement to the Muskrats dugout and firing up his own.

The two teams once again traded runs in the fifth. After Nick O’Day’s two-out RBI single cut the Moose lead to two, Hayes drew his second walk of the game, this time with the bases loaded, to match it, restoring the Mainer lead back to three runs at 6-3.

Entering the contest’s final third, the Muskrats looked destined to make a quick comeback. Three consecutive hits to lead off the seventh inning saw two runs cross the plate and a runner at third 90 feet away from tying the score at six. Needing three outs, the Mainer bullpen went to work. Kyle Skidmore (Franklin, Mass./Hoftstra) punched out Cochrane with a nasty full-count fastball while Gerry Siracusa (Kinnelon, N.J./UMass Lowell) retired the last two batters in short order, fanning O’Day and coaxing a weak groundball to third out of Levins.

Nevertheless, Winnipesaukee continued to put the pressure on, loading the bases with a single and two walks the very next inning. With the most dangerous Muskrat bat in Terence Norman due to bat, Moose skipper Cejay Suarez (Abington, Mass./Bridgton Academy) elected to give the ball to shutdown closer Jacob Parker (Monroe, Ga./Georgia Southern) to get out of the jam. The 6-7 righty delivered, getting Norman to fly out lazily to left field.

Parker would go right back out to the mound in the ninth, getting the last three outs to hammer down the save and give the Mainers their second win of the year.

The win concludes a three-game homestand which saw the Moose win twice, propelling them to third place in an already competitive Northern Division.

The Mainers will be on the road for their next two games to take on the Vermont Mountaineers today and the Valley Blue Sox on Thursday with games starting at 6:30 p.m. and 6:35 p.m. respectively. The Mainers are now 2-2 on the season.