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Sharks make it 11 in a row Best recon in NECBL

Sharks came from behind again to extend there win streak to 11 games

 The first of those five came in the bottom of the first when Knowles, on a 3-2 fastball, gave up a solo dinger to Nander Desedas on the first batter of the game.

With the score 2-1, Knowles held that lead until the third.

With second and third and one out, Desedas, the Shark’s shortstop, got his second RBI of the day with a sac groundout to Swampbats shortstop Kevin Welsh.

With it 2-2, the first controversial call happened. A hard hit grounder to third basemen Kyle Ball somehow made it into the Stetson’s products glove. Creating a very Brooks Robinson-esque play, Ball stopped on a dime and fired a rocket to first basemen Logan Mathieu.

Matt Chamberlain, the batter who hit the ball, looked like the throw had beaten him by about half a step. On the contrary, a delayed call from the first base umpire ruled Chamberlain safe, scoring Colin Shapiro from first and putting Martha’s Vineyard ahead 3-2.

Coach Calhoun, who rarely argues with umpires, jogged all the way out to first base from the third base dugout to give the ump a piece of his mind. The confrontation diffused and the game resumed.

In the fourth, with Keene down by one and first and third, David Matthews was gunned out at home on a delayed steal from Andrew MacNeil at second. Getting into a rundown, Shark’s first basemen Nick Oar fired a bullet to home, nabbing Matthews by about two feet.

Kevin Welsh righted the wrong two batters later with a liner into center, scoring MacNeil from second and tying the game at three. Then Keene put the foot on the gas.

With Vineyard’s starter Jack Sheehan fighting arm fatigue, Keene added four more runs off of Logan Mathieu’s two-run moon shot, an Andrew MacNeil RBI single, and a Nander Desedas’ error.

With Keene up 7-3, Knowles was primed to get a win and also his first decision as a Keene pitcher.

In the fifth, Knowles slowly let Martha’s Vineyard creep back into the game. Following Alan Burnsed’s RBI double and another controversial call, a passed ball to Seth Caddell scored Burnsed, cutting Keene’s lead to two.

The second controversial call, on Burnsed’s RBI double, came at home, with another 50/50 play. Matt Chamberlain rounding third, looked like he would beat the throw from second basemen Will Wagner to catcher Seth Caddell.

Wagner’s throw was on the money however and Caddell applied the tag. The tag looked like it just scraped off of Chamberlain’s shoulder before he touched home. However, another delayed call, this time from the home plate umpire, called Chamberlain safe.

Coach Calhoun, again not happy with the call, gave a piece of his mind to the home plate umpire.

Calhoun, as said before, rarely argues anything so to think that he argued twice on close plays in the same game would suggest there is actually something wrong with the call.  

With the Bats up 7-5, Marc Davis looked to come in for two-plus innings to finish off the game. He finished the game, except Keene did not walk away with a win.

In the bottom of the seventh, after walking the bases loaded and getting two outs, Alan Burnsed ripped a bases-clearing double to left center off a Marc Davis fastball.

Burnsed was thrown out at third ending the inning but still putting Keene down by one as all the runs scored before the out was made.

The Sharks bullpen would hold the lead to continue the 11 game win streak and improve to 19-8 for best record in League and first place in the Southern division.