OLD ORCHARD BEACH- The hot, hazy, humid conditions may have been responsible for the lack of offense Friday night for the Old Orchard Beach Raging Tide, who lost 3-1 to the Sanford Mainers at The Ballpark.

Sanford beat the 100-degree heat by scoring three runs in the sixth inning.

The rally began after Raging Tide starter Rich Anastasi got Brett Mollenhauer to ground out to second baseman Kyle Stearns.

Anastasi then allowed a single to Justin Leisenheimer and a walk to Paul Kronenfeld.

Jack Lupo took an Anastasi pitch deep to left, and it bounced in and out of the glove of left fielder Thomas Bourdon. Bourdon was charged with an error and the bases were loaded.

Raging Tide Manager Inaki Ormaechea took the ball from Anastasi after 51/3 innings. Anastasi allowed six hits and one walk, striking out six and giving up two runs, both unearned.

“We did all right,” said Ormaechea. “It was 3-1 so we had opportunities but we didn’t do anything with them. There were tough fly balls, deep fly balls and defensive plays that we should have made but they were tough.”

“(The Mainers) executed, we didn’t.”

Matt Cook relieved and struck out Matt Verrier for the second out, but then, on a 3-and-1 pitch, hit Pat Devlin on the left shoulder to tie the game.

Eric Hailer’s grounder up the third-base line skipped off the glove of Riley Palmer as Kronenfeld scored the second Mainers run.

The third came after Marlon Calbi singled and advanced to second on a pickoff attempt error by pitcher Chris Carmain. Mollenhauer singled in Calbi for the third Sanford run.

“I thought we did a nice job tonight,” said Mainers Coach Aaron Izaryk. “We made some nice defensive plays and had a couple of clutch hits.

The Raging Tide scored when Tim Quinn’s double brought in Billy Bereszniewicz. The run was Bereszniewicz’s team-leading 18th.

THE MAINERS and Raging Tide will send a combined seven players to the NECBL All-Star game Wednesday.

Tim Quinn, Billy Bereszniewicz and Mike Fransoso will represent the Raging Tide in the 18th annual game at Fraser Field in Lynn, Mass.

“It’s an honor to represent the Raging Tide here in the first year and wear the uniform,” said Fransoso. “Hopefully (Billy Bereszniewicz, Tim Quinn and myself) can go down and represent well. Overall I’m just happy to be in that game.”

Ormaechea said his entire team puts in the effort, but he’s proud to have these three representing the Raging Tide.

“It’s great to have those three guys represent us,” he said. “They play hard.”

Paul Kronenfeld, Brett Mollenhauer, Tyler Mizenko and A.J. Bazdanes will represent the Mainers.

“(Kronenfeld, Mollenhauer, Mizenko and Bazdanes) are four incredible parts of our team,” said Izaryk. “We couldn’t be happier with those four guys representing us.”

Kronenfeld is looking forward to representing the Mainers in the All-Star game because of the success his team has had this season along with the honor associated with being named an all-star.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Kronenfeld, a sophomore at Georgia Tech. “The Mainers have had a great run this year and we are going to continue to have a great run. To represent the Mainers is a huge honor. Being selected as one of the best players in the league is pretty awesome. It’s a big honor.”

Staff Writer Austin Pollack can be contacted at 791-6356 or at:

apollack@pressherald.com