Courtesy Vermont Baseball Coaches Association
WHITE RIVER JUNCTION –— Strong pitching by Josh Beayon of Otter Valley and seven runs in the middle innings lifted Vermont to an 11-3 win over New Hampshire in the second game of the 2019 Twin State Baseball Classic at the Maxfield Complex Saturday. Starter Derrick Stanhope of Stevens allowed just two hits over three scoreless innings as New Hampshire grabbed the lid lifter, 4-1.
Beayon, who also went 2-for-2 with a double in game one, was named the Most Valuable Player for the Green Mountain State. The lefty came on in the second allowing just one batter to reach in three scoreless innings as Vermont turned around an early 3-1 deficit. He walked the first hitter he faced in the second inning before retiring nine straight including five strikeouts. Stanhope, who also walked one and struck out four in the opener, was named the New Hampshire MVP.
The Granite State jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first game on a two-run triple by Kegan Silovich of Hanover. After Matt Dodd of Monadnock and Caleb Yianakopolos of Hopkinton led the third with singles, an RBI-grounder by Cam Magerer of Belmont made it 3-0.
Vermont picked up its lone run in the fifth as Adam Newton of Brattleboro led with a double before coming home on a one-out base hit by Wyatt Cameron of Middlebury. A RBI single by Yianakopolos in the seventh capped the scoring.
Stanhope picked up the victory in the opener and Kyle Pelletier of Lebanon retired six of the seven batters he faced for the save. Yianakopolos went 4-for-4 as New Hampshire out-hit Vermont by an 8-6 margin. Beayon had a long double among his two hits while Colby Brouillette of BFA St. Albans belted a long triple.
Tyler Skaflestad of Champlain Valley led the nightcap with a triple and came home on a single by Chandler Pouk of Burr and Burton as Vermont jumped out to a 1-0 lead. New Hampshire rallied with three unearned runs in the bottom half, taking advantage of three infield errors and two walks.
Vermont took control with a four-run third, sending nine hitters to the plate. Cameron rapped a two-run single and Becket Hill of Mount Mansfield added a RBI-base hit. Pouk made it 6-3 with a RBI-groundout in the fourth before they added two more in the sixth on a two-run single by Skaflestad. They capped it with three more in the top of the seventh on five hits including run-scoring singles by Aaron Szabo of Fair Haven, Tyler Millette of Essex and Skaflestad.
Vermont’s offense turned it around with a 16-hit attack in game two led by Skaflestad with four (4-for-5), Szabo had three and Hill and Pouk added two apiece. New Hampshire had just two singles, one by Devlin Costa of Plymouth in the first and by Pelletier in the seventh as Beayon, Cody Grant (two scoreless innings) of Oxbow and Brouillette shut the door after the three-run first. The Green Mountain State infield atoned for its three early errors with a pair of nice double plays in the fifth and the seventh.
It is the fourth split in the fifth year of the annual border series that resumed in 2015 after an 11-year hiatus. Vermont had the lone sweep last year after the two teams split six one-run games in the first three meetings after the revival. Vermont’s team is from all four divisions (64 schools) and the team from the higher populated Granite State is made up from its Division’s 2, 3 and 4.
Special thanks to the Town of Hartford Recreation Department and the Upper Valley Nighthawks for hosting the Twin State Baseball Classic for the second straight year. The classic will likely again return to the Maxfield Complex in June of 2020.