By: Shannon Bickert
The Schooners look to stay hot on the road, traveling to Danbury to face the Westerners on Tuesday, July 7. Mystic has been the best team in the NECBL on the road this summer, posting an 8-1 road record. The Westerners have lost four straight and hold an 8-14 record.
Danbury is coming off an extra innings road loss to Bristol on Sunday. The Westerners had a two-run lead heading into the eighth, but the Blues pushed extras and walked it off.
Mystic is coming off an abbreviated loss on July 4. Due to storms in the area, Mystic fell to Newport 7-1 after five innings.
The Westerners enter the contest ninth in the league in team batting average, with a .226 mark, while sitting 12th in on-base percentage with a .340 clip. The Schooners come in tied for the fifth best team batting average at .239, while posting a .377 team on-base percentage.
The Donahue twins out of Sacred Heart University have helped spear-head the Westerners offense this season. Gavin has recorded 19 RBI and Ronan has tallied 18.
The Westerners have come up with big hits this season, ranking second in the NECBL in home runs with 18. Collin Mowry (Louisville) leads the team with four long balls and Ronan Donahue has left the yard three times.
Looking into the matchup, Mystic’s base stealing abilities are a key. The Schooners have recorded 77 stolen bases this summer. Danbury has only caught nine baserunners attempting to steal.
The season series between the two squads is knotted at 1-1. In their last meeting on June 26, Danbury took down Mystic at home, defeating the Schooners 4-3 in ten innings. Gavin Donahue hit the go-ahead sacrifice fly to seal the win.
Brady Bouchard (Stetson) is Mystic’s probable starter. Bouchard faced Danbury on the 26th, where he tossed a scoreless inning of relief, striking out one. Bouchard has pitched to a 3.09 ERA across 11.1 innings this summer. In his last start against Vermont, Bouchard allowed one earned run across four innings of work.
First pitch from Rogers Park is scheduled for 6:30 pm. Don’t miss the live-game actions, tune into the broadcast on NECBL+.
