By: Shannon Bickert

The Schooners snapped their three-game losing streak, defeating the Valley Blue Sox 3-2 on Saturday, July 25 in game one of a double header. Mystic moved to 22-16 on the summer with the victory.

Mystic started off on the right first as Jack Harley (Stetson) and Anthony Belisario (GWEB) opened the game with singles against the Blue Sox pitcher, Andrew Oppenheimer (Trinity). Bryce Detwiler (UConn) brought in the first run on a sacrifice fly to score Harley.

Tristan Aasland (UConn) allowed traffic in the bottom of the first, but got out of the jam, holding Valley scoreless in the early goings of the contest.

Mystic added on in the top of the fourth. Chris Walsh (Northeastern) knocked an infield single and went first to home on Adam Troch’s (Duke) RBI double to left field.

Chris Cancel (UConn) opened the bottom of the fourth with a solo blast to left field, making it a 2-1 Mystic advantage.

The Schooners made their first call to the bullpen in the bottom of the fifth to Calvin Gregory (VCU). The southpaw tossed a scoreless first inning of work, striking out two.

Mystic added to their lead as Oppenheimer allowed back-to-back free passes to Detwiler and Joel Collado (URI) to open the sixth. Jamie Zee (Notre Dame) loaded the bases as the Valley defense committed an error, allowing Detwiler to score on Walsh’s RBI knock.

Mitchel Brown (Nichols) took the bump for the Blue Sox and shut down Mystic in the seventh.

Chris Carson (SBU) doubled and Hill brought in Alex Carson (Mary Hardin-Baylor) on a pinch-hit single off MJ Bollinger (UConn). Despite the late comeback attempt, Bollinger was able to close out the win.