The Vermont Mountaineers defeated the Mystic Schooners, 3-2, in 10 innings to hoist the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) Championship trophy, the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup, for the third time in franchise history.
With the win, Vermont captures the trophy for the first time since 2007.
With the score tied at two after nine innings of play, the Mountaineers pushed across the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run in the 10th to come away victorious.
Second baseman Garrett Copeland (Bartlett, Tenn. / Austin Peay) hit a one out single. Designated hitter Kevin Stypulkowski (Lake Worth, Fla. / Maine Orono) followed with a hit-and-run single to right, allowing Copeland to advance all the way to third. With first and third and one out, catcher Ridge Smith (Clarksville, Tenn. / Austin Peay) executed the squeeze play to success, pushing a bunt toward the first base line that Mystic reliever Jason Foley (Bellmore, N.Y. / Sacred Heart) mishandled. Copeland scored the winning run as a result.
First baseman Simon Rosenbaum (Los Altos Hills, Calif. / Pomona-Pitzer) and third baseman Austin Clemons (Louisville, Ky. / Louisville) made stellar defensive plays in the bottom of the tenth to seal the win.
The Mountaineers took a 1-0 lead in the first and scored again in the fifth to go up 2-0.
In the first, rightfielder Jack Parenty (Wantagh, N.Y. / Stony Brook) led off with a single to left field. Two batters later, first baseman Joe Dudek (Wall Township, N.J. / Kentucky) ripped an RBI double to center to give Vermont a 1-0 lead.
In the fifth, Parenty drew a one out walk and stole second. After leftfielder Nick Ruppert (La Mesa, Calif. / Dartmouth) followed with a walk, the two took off on a double steal. Mystic catcher Lou Iannotti (North Haven, Conn. / Quinnipiac) overthrew second base, as the ball sailed into center to allow Parenty to hop up and score from third.
The Schooners tied the game with two runs on two hits in the bottom of the fifth, but both runs were unearned following an error in the inning.
Mountaineers’ starter Tom Cosgrove (Staten Island, N.Y. / Manhattan) pitched effectively. The southpaw dealt five innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out five.
Vermont reliever Teddy Rodliff (West Babylon, N.Y. / Stony Brook) was brilliant in four innings of relief and earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the postseason. The southpaw allowed no runs on one hit and no walks while striking out four.
Mountaineers’ closer Sam Delaplane (San Jose, Calif. / Eastern Michigan) earned his third save of the playoffs by locking things down in the tenth. The righthander gave up no runs, hits or walks.
Foley took the loss for Mystic, falling to 0-1 in the postseason. He tossed 3 2-3 innings of relief, surrendering one earned run on three hits and one walk. He struck out seven.
Vermont Manager Joe Brown (Cortland, N.Y. / SUNY Cortland) capped off an incredible coaching year, grabbing his second title of 2015. With the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons, Brown led the team to the school’s first ever Division-III College World Series title. After guiding the Mountaineers to a 31-18 overall record, he became the first manager to win an NECBL Championship with two different franchises. Brown also hoisted the Fay Vincent Sr. Cup with Sanford in 2008.
“I’m so proud of this team,” Vermont General Manager Brian Gallagher said. “This group stuck it out for the entire season, and it feels great being able to bring the trophy back to Vermont after an eight-year drought.”
