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On Friday night, the final home game of the 2026 Lowell Spinners season took place against the New Britain Bees. The Spinners were looking to end the home slate on a high note as they looked ahead to 2027.
Lowell sent out right-hander Ian Keusch, making his 12th appearance of the season with a 5.44 ERA over 49.2 innings. Taking the ball for the Bees was Owen Pike, making his 10th appearance with a 6.28 ERA over 14.1 innings.
New Britain struck first in the top of the first inning. A triple down the right-field line by Tim Henning was followed two batters later by a George Sauson groundout, giving the Bees an early 1–0 lead. The Spinners answered quickly with two runs in the bottom of the frame, as RBI hits from Aidan Driscoll and Zander Bratspis put Lowell ahead 2–1 after one.
The Spinners extended their lead to 5–1 through five innings behind a strong start from Keusch. However, when Keusch exited after facing just one batter in the sixth, the Spinners’ bullpen collapsed.
New Britain scored 13 runs combined across the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to put the game out of reach. The worst damage came in the eighth, when the Bees exploded for 12 runs to blow the game open at 19–6. Although the Spinners pushed three runs across in the bottom of the eighth, New Britain secured a 19–9 victory.
After the game, Spinners manager Kevin Graber called Lowell an “amazing city with awesome people.” Asked what advice he had for his roster, Graber said he wants the players “to improve in all areas of the game” as they return to their respective colleges. Graber added that he would love to return to manage the team next summer and plans to discuss those possibilities with team ownership in the coming days.
Lowell has one final game left on the road on Saturday before wrapping up its 2026 regular season.
Author Profile
- John is VP of NGSC Sports and head of our New England operations. He covers sports in the America East, Big East, ACC, Hockey East conferences.
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