Maine players important to the Sanford Mainers latest league crown
Gabe Gifford, an Old Town graduate, delivers a pitch for Sanford during Game 1 of the NECBL championships series against Danbury on Sunday in Sanford. Gifford pitched four hitless inning of relief in Game 3 to help the Mainers clinch the league title. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer) Purchase this image
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SANFORD — Gabe Gifford didn’t know how many innings he was going to pitch Wednesday night. He just knew he was ready.
The left-handed pitcher from Bradley and alumnus of Old Town High was the first Sanford Mainers reliever out of the bullpen in Game 3 of the New England Collegiate Baseball League championship series against the Danbury Westerners at Goodall Park.
Gifford, who just wrapped his junior year at the University of Southern Maine, proceeded to pitch four innings of hitless relief, striking out five batters, to earn the save and seal a 12-5 win to gave the Mainers their third league title in their 25-year history in the summer wooden bat league.
“I knew I was going to be the first one out (of the bullpen), but didn’t know for how long,” Gifford said. “But in this atmosphere, adrenaline just takes over. I was just ready to go.”
Gifford, a late-season addition, was one of several in-state players who contributed to the Mainers’ success this summer. Sanford carried eight Maine residents on its 33-player roster, from colleges ranging from NCAA Divisions I to III.
“I love this state with my whole heart, and to have Maine guys, with that Maine blood, like a Gabe Gifford, giving us four innings (on the mound), it’s amazing,” said Nic Lops, who is in his sixth season as Sanford’s head coach.
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Gifford’s fellow pitchers TJ Curley (Sanford), Joshua Kopetski (Arundel), Drew Sliwkowski (Kennebunkport), Brennan Rumpf (Falmouth), Drew Smith (Auburn), along with catcher Ryan Kolben (Cumberland) and infielder Brian Connolly (Brunswick) played important roles in Sanford’s title-winning season.
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Incorporating Maine players into the program has been a concentrated strategy of Lops and general manager Aaron Izaryk.
“They’ve got to be good people. They have to have a foundation of really good character, because it’s a long summer. It’s hot, it’s cold, there’s long bus rides. Sanford isn’t for everybody,” said Izaryk, who is also the head baseball coach and director of athletics at Bridgton Academy. “What we look for is someone who is a high-end baseball player, who makes (the experience) matter. It matters every pitch, it matters that you run (hard) to first base. It matters how you treat the kids who watch you play … it matters how you carry yourself.”
Connolly — who plays at the University of Rhode Island and is the son of Maine Baseball Hall of Famer and Bowdoin College coach Mike Connolly — batted .309 this summer, with two home runs and 20 RBI. In 10 appearances, Gifford had a 4-0 record and 0.74 ERA, striking out 33 batters in 24 1/3 innings. Smith, a 6-foot-3, 231-pound right-hander at the University of Connecticut, went 3-1 with a 3.63 ERA, with 57 strikeouts in 39 2/3 innings.
“(A key) is just how tight-knit we are,” Gifford said. “These guys are my brothers. I showed up in the second half of the season, and some of these guys (have become) my best friends. For me to come in this environment and have such good guys with you every day is awesome.”
Sanford needed to stick together during the playoffs, particularly after Game 2 of the series, when the Mainers led 7-2 but allowed Danbury to make a late surge and take an 8-7 win to even the series.
“There was no (speech after Game 2),” said Lops, who is also the head baseball coach at Southern Maine Community College. “These guys understood what happened. We got punched in the mouth, it was a real heartbreaker down there. There wasn’t much said, it was just, ‘Get your postgame meal, we’ll see you on the bus.’ This group watches each other’s back. They’re just a resilient group and I love them to death.”
The investment has paid off, with trips to the NECBL final in two of the past three seasons, and the program’s first league crown since 2008.
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Tagged: Sanford Mainers
Dave Dyer is in his second stint with the Kennebec Journal/Morning Sentinel. Dave was previously with the company from 2012-2015 and returned in late 2016. He spent most of 2016 doing freelance sports. More by Dave Dyer
