LACONIA – The Mainers found themselves in familiar territory when they trailed the Winnipesaukee Muskrats in the eighth inning.  As they seem to do often, they dug deep and found a way to win it late, grabbing a 9-5 win from the jaws of defeat.

In the early stages of the third meeting between these two teams, it didn’t look like a comeback would be necessary.  After three strong innings from Matt Rudis (Madisonville, Texas/Texas Christian) in his second start of the season, the Moose drew first blood in the fourth.  Shane Marshall (Webster, N.Y./Binghamton) led the frame off with a double off the left-center field wall and Orlando Adams (Atlanta, Ga./Kentucky) drove him home with two outs when he grounded a fastball between the third baseman and shortstop.

The Mainers went right back to work the very next inning.  With two outs against them, Nick Howie (Oakville, Ontario, Canada/Eastern Kentucky) kicked off a rally by driving a fastball to the right-field wall and making his way to third base with a triple.  Elliott Curtis (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada/Kentucky) brought his fellow countryman home with a single.  Not to be outdone, Marshall saw a first-pitch slider and crushed it over the green monster in left field, watching it all the way as he gave the Mainers a 4-0 lead.

The bottom of the fifth saw Rudis return to the mound for his fifth and final inning of work. Despite allowing a one-out single to Muskrat catcher Teddy Beaudet, the Texan right-hander never lost his composure, striking out two batters to finish off another scoreless frame.

He exited the ballgame after allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out six Winnipesaukee batters.

Unfortunately for Rudis and the Mainers, the bullpen could not preserve the lead and keep the starter in line for the win.  With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Chad Minato lined a two-run double into left-center field, cutting the Mainer lead in half. He advanced to third on the throw home and scored on a wild pitch, leaving the Moose with a slim 4-3 lead heading into the contest’s back third.

The Muskrats decided that they weren’t done in their next turn at-bat, putting up two runs in the bottom of the seventh to complete their comeback.  Back-to-back RBI hits from Sam Cochrane and Tatem Levins put the Muskrats in the lead for the first time, giving them a 5-4 advantage heading into the final two innings.

Even though they lost their lead, the Mainers never counted themselves out.  Their offense started getting back into gear by loading the bases in their first three batters, all of them reaching on walks.  The Muskrats went to the bullpen to try to preserve the lead, but the move was rendered ineffective when Minato fumbled a Sterling Hayes (San Diego, Calif./Vanderbilt) groundball, allowing Brandon Lankford (Mocksville, N.C./UNC-Asheville) to score and tie the game at five.

Like he’s done all season long, Drew DeMartino (Pittsfield, Mass./Hartford) dug deep and produced another big swing, roping a double to right-center field to score two runs and put the Mainers back on top 7-5.

Curtis added onto his impressive day at the plate, plating two more insurance runs on a hard groundball that kicked off the heel of the third baseman’s glove.  Even though the ball barely cleared the infield off the ricochet, he was thinking double out of the box, and his aggressiveness was rewarded when he evaded the tag at second base to complete his two-RBI hit.

Ahead 9-5 and needing just six outs to close out the win, Moose skipper Cejay Suarez turned to Jacob Parker (Monroe, Ga./Georgia Southern) to finish off the Muskrats in a non-save situation.  Although the 6-7 closer got the ball an inning earlier than expected, he mowed down the Muskrat lineup with ease. He only allowed one batter to reach, striking out the final batter to slam the door on the resilient hosts.

The win marks the sixth of the season for the Moose, their third in as many games against the Muskrats.