The Danbury Westerners scored nine runs in the final three innings to defeat the Keene SwampBats 12-5 on Wednesday night.

On an overcast and hot evening at Alumni Field, the Westerners jumped in front in the top of the second inning. After four straight fly outs may have concerned starter Nick Timpanelli (Charleston Southern), the next one snuck over the fence in left to make it 1-0 Danbury. They doubled their lead on a home run into the trees in the third. In the top of the fourth, Danbury had a runner on third with two outs when a ground ball was hit to the left of second baseman Austin Hawke (Wake Forest) who made a diving stop to make the play and save a run. Timpanelli allowed two runs in four innings while striking out one. Meanwhile the SwampBats’ only base runner in five innings against Danbury starter Matthew Wooton was a Hawke single in the fourth. Despite Wooton’s slow velocity, he befuddled the SwampBats with his placement and breaking balls.

Danbury hit another solo home run in the sixth to go up 3-0 but that was all Alex Jankowski (Stony Brook) allowed in two innings. In the bottom half, with Wooton finally out of the game, Nick Romano (Florida Atlantic) walked, Brett House (Mississippi State) singled, and Joe Jaconski (Penn State) walked with nobody out to load the bases. Hawke then walked to score the Bats’ first run and chase the reliever from the game. Josh Kross (Cincinnati) came up next against the new pitcher, and rapidly turned the game on its head with an electrifying grand slam over the left-center field fence, making it 5-3 with his first hit of the summer. The SwampBats then reloaded the bases in the inning and it looked like they would be home free. Unfortunately for Keene that would not be the case. After two strikeouts ended that rally, the Westerners tied the game with a two-run single in the seventh.

Jaconski led off the bottom of the seventh with a single as the potential go-ahead run but advanced only as far as second base. In the eighth, with the game in the balance, Danbury got runners on first and second with no one out. After a pitching change, Jaden Varner (Kent State), allowed a sacrifice bunt that moved both runners into scoring position. Varner struck out the next hitter, but a wild pitch with two outs gave the Westerners a 6-5 lead. It all fell apart for the home team in the ninth, as Danbury scored six runs on four hits and three walks against three different SwampBats pitchers. Andrew Wiggins (Indiana) scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth to pull one back.

Keene (8-5) visits Upper Valley on Thursday before returning home for Star Wars night against Martha’s Vineyard on Friday.