Blue Sox extend win streak to 3 with 5-2 win over Danbury
By Graham Goodman
The Valley Blue Sox defeated the Danbury Westerners 5-2 Monday night to improve to 3-0-1, keeping its spot atop the NECBL South Division. The Blue Sox put themselves in a position to win from the jump with a quick five runs in the first three innings and strong starting pitching.
The 3-0-1 start for the Blue Sox is their best since they moved to Holyoke in 2009. The team is tied for first in the South Division with the 4-1 Mystic Schooners.
Starting pitcher Nolan Geisler (UMass Lowell) gave the Blue Sox a convincing six innings on a mere 68 pitches. Hours after Geisler’s teammate Dylan Reid (Brown) won NECBL pitcher of the week, Geisler turned in one of Valley’s best starts of the young season.
Geisler worked smoothly through his first five frames and only needed 18 pitches to get through his first three innings. He ran into trouble in the sixth when a single and two free passes loaded the bases to set up a soft 2 RBI single into shallow left field, but escaped with a double play ball on the next batter with the tying run on first base.
“Minimizing there in the sixth really helped me out, helped the boys out, helped the bullpen,” Geisler said. “(It was) a really good start, really good debut here in the Valley. Going to try to build on it, keep working and get better everyday.”
Geisler struck out four total, all on the swing and faced the minimum number of batters (15) through five innings.
“You don’t see that often,” Geisler said. “I looked at the scoreboard after the third and saw I was at 18 pitches. I was kind of in cruise control. I was locked in, kept pounding the zone, trying to get ahead 0-1.”
Geisler was aided by five early runs from the Blue Sox offense in the first three innings. Centerfielder Chris Carson (Stony Brook), who moved up to the leadoff spot after Anthony Tirado (UMass Amherst) was given the day off, was yet another spark to the top of the Blue Sox lineup with two hits in his first two at bats. Carson scored the opening run of the game after a sharp leadoff single and extended the Blue Sox lead to 4-0 with a two out floater into left field to plate one.
Carson has enjoyed a two game stretch where he has entered the top part of the Blue Sox lineup and has driven in four runs in his last seven at-bats while also collecting four hits and walking twice.
“I just want to do what I can,” Carson said. “I just want to help the team. If that means I hit 9, or hit 1, then that’s fine with me. … I trusted my hands, hunted early.”
Head coach John Raiola said Carson fits the leadoff role because of his high quality at-bats.
“At the top of the order, you want guys that are gonna take care of their at bats,” Raiola said. “It doesn't need to be doubles and home runs. Just find ways on base, and foul pitches off and work walks, take a single here and there, and he does that as well as anybody we have.”
High quality at-bats have been the underlying factor to the Blue Sox successes at the plate. As a team, the Blue Sox have walked the second most amongst NECBL teams and 12 of their 27 runners that have scored reached base via a walk or a hit by pitch.
The team has also showcased an ability to apply pressure on the basepaths. For a second consecutive game, the Sox executed a double steal with runners on first and third to excellent effect, with both runners advancing safely on the two occasions they have run the play.
To go with early runs and strong starting pitching, the Blue Sox cleaned things up defensively after four errors in Sunday’s 14-6 win over Upper Valley, turning three double plays and not making a single error.
Raiola made sure the team took extra time out of their pregame warmup to get infield drills in, as well as going through an on-field warmup shortly before gametime. The change in routine paid off. The Blue Sox three double plays are a season-high, and came up big defensively at various other points.
Most notably, a double play in the sixth inning escaped a bases-loaded jam, but when RHP Jack Ensell (Barry) entered the game in a save situation and looked shaky after a one out walk, a back-pick from catcher Chris Cancel (UConn) took the runner off the bases. Ensell ended the game four pitches later.
“We talked about after the (Upper Valley) game just some communication things,” Raiola said. “A little bit more reps, getting guys extra wraps in different spots, and just understanding the footwork and timing of what we're trying to do. We'll show up and continue to address the other things that we don't do quite as well, and keep shipping away at it so that we get better as we go here.”
A hint of Raiola’s emphasis on defensive improvement was shown in other ways by starting Cancel for the third time in three games. Cancel has thrown out two of the four runners that have attempted to steal on him this season, which does not include the back-pick.
In addition, Cancel has been productive at the plate, picking an RBI in each of his three games, and quietly beginning a three game hit streak.
Prior to the game, two new players joined the Blue Sox in the likes of second baseman Trey Spees (Western Carolina) and centerfielder Lucas Alberti (George Mason). Alberti was an important part of George Mason’s lineup in 2026, hitting for a batting average of .315 across 55 games where he drove in 46 and homered on six occasions. Alberti also posted a near 1/1 strikeout to walk ratio, and stole 23 bases on 30 attempts when he reached base.
Alberti provides more depth and another left handed bat to an outfield that has a surplus of such. Spees had a slight down year from his freshman season, but adds a reliable glove to the middle infield mix.
Both are joining the team in the midst of a win streak that the Blue Sox seek to extend to four as they host the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks at 6:30 p.m. June 9 at Mackenzie Stadium.