LACONIA, N.H. – Bijan Radermacher hit a go-ahead two-run single in the bottom of the seventh inning to help the Laconia Muskrats eliminate the Sanford Mainers from the New England Collegiate Baseball League playoffs with an 8-7 win in Game 2 of their best-of-three Eastern Division championship series at Robbie Mills Park.

Portland’s Regan Flaherty gave Laconia a 6-4 lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the sixth, but Sanford answered with a three-run seventh, keyed by RBI singles by Jack Lupo and Tim Panetta.

After Radermacher’s go-ahead single, Sanford put the tying run in scoring position on Brett Mollenhauer’s one-out double in the eighth, but William Prince came on to retire the side on a flyout, a walk and a strikeout. Prince worked around a pair of singles in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.

Lupo’s two-run single helped Sanford take a 3-0 lead in the first inning, and Paul Kronenfeld added an RBI single in the fourth to make it 4-1.

The Muskrats pulled closer on Dylan Kelly’s two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth.

Chris Costantino also had a home run and two RBI for Laconia. Tim Panetta had three hits for Sanford.

Laconia, which finished fourth in the Eastern Division in the regular season, will play for the NECBL championship against the winner of Western Division finals between Keene and Holyoke.

 


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