SANFORD — After being nohit through the first four innings, the Sanford Mainers’ bats exploded late in the game to top the visiting Newport Gulls 7-2 at Goodall Park Thursday night.

Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the sixth, the Mainers would get three batters on to load the bases with no outs.

Sanford’s clean up hitter Nelson Mompierre then stepped up the plate and crushed a grand slam to take control of the game.

“It was important for us as a team and it was really important to Nelson. He’s been working hard and getting extra swings in the cage, he’s been battling. It was good to see all of the work that he’s been putting in pay off,” said Sanford coach Chris Morris. “It gave us a big lift, it gave us energy on the field and in the dugout, it gave the entire ballpark energy.”

Sanford would then add two more runs in the seventh – the first on an RBI double from Zach Jancarski, and the second on an overthrow to third that sent Jancarski home.

Sam Stauble added a sacrifice fly in the eighth to give the Mainers their seventh run of the night.

“It was huge, once the bats got going in the (sixth) inning they just kept going through the rest of the game. It was a big win,” said Sanford pitcher Danny Wilson.

Wilson got the start for Sanford. The Gulls would take an early 1-0 lead in the first inning off an RBI single from Ben Breazeale and later a 2-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly from Mark Powell.

After the shaky two innings, Wilson would rebound to shut out the Gulls for the next 3 2/3 innings. Wilson would finish the day pitching 5 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on four hits, while striking out five.

Wilson was happy to get things back on the right track in the third inning.

“I didn’t want to break down out there, I was just trying to do my thing and fill the zone. I did everything I could do in my control,” said Wilson.

The Sanford bullpen also came up big for the Mainers, allowing no runs and just two hits in the final 2 1/3 innings while also striking out three.

“Our bullpen has got an edge to them. They have a lot of confidence and we have a lot of confidence in them. That’s a good thing to have going down the stretch,” said Morris.

Morris was also proud of his team’s resiliency Thursday.

“It’s a good thing to have, having guys that are resilient and play hard for nine innings,” said Morris. “If you play hard and compete for nine innings and keep putting yourself in positions to win games then it’s going to be a good summer.”

The Mainers improve to 9-10 on the year, and hope to stay hot down the stretch.

“The thing is that we battle. I think early on we didn’t get the results we wanted but we knew if we kept swinging the bat and staying positive good things will happen, that’s the name of the game,” said Morris.