Category: Daily Fog

One Chatham pitcher currently has enough innings to qualify for the ERA leaderboard. Only two rank among the league’s top 40 in innings pitched. Just four times in 21 games has an Angler starter gone five innings. Not a single starter has gone more than five.

Those may sound like hallmarks of a struggling staff, but in the Cape League’s brave new pitching world, they’re largely irrelevant numbers. The Anglers have fully embraced the new approach, so the lack of long outings and big innings totals is a given.

What matters is what the pitchers do in their short stints, and Chatham pitchers have done a lot. The Anglers lead the league in strikeouts and opponents batting average while ranking second in team ERA.

Over the years, it’s been interesting to watch the trends in Cape League pitching. When it comes to balancing wear and tear on an arm with the chance for summer improvement and career enhancement, caution is winning out more and more. It was never more evident than last year, when just six pitchers qualified for the ERA title.

Cape League teams have had no choice but to adjust to the new reality, and I don’t know if anyone’s done it better than Chatham this year.

Twenty-three pitchers have taken the mound. Eight have departed at this point, leaving a 15-man staff. And every game, the staff pulls weight together.

The Anglers started the season by trotting out five pitchers on opening night, something they’ve done twice overall. They’ve used four pitchers in a game six times, three pitchers nine times and two pitchers four times, though three of those instances were seven-inning doubleheader games or weather-shortened contests. Whatever the total number of pitchers, starters most often go four innings, then make way for the bullpen.

And it’s been working. Saturday’s 9-6 win over Harwich was a classic example. Starting pitcher Jack Conlon (Texas A&M), who has pitched in relief and as a starter this summer, went 2.1 innings. Reliever Spencer Von Scoyoc (Arizona State) did the same. Zach King (Vanderbilt) logged 2.2 innings. And Troy Miller (Michigan) went the final 1.2.

The first three weren’t dominant – each allowed two runs – but they largely did their jobs. Miller finished things off in impressive fashion, allowing one hit in his outing.

At the plate, Blake Sabol (USC) drove in three runs and Drew Mendoza (Florida State) knocked in two. A five-run fourth inning staked the Anglers to the lead.

Another team effort by the pitching staff took care of the rest.

Cotuit 8, Hyannis 3

John Baker (Ball State) delivered another strong start and the Kettleers backed him up with a nine-hit attack for a win over Hyannis. Baker allowed one run on six hits and struck out six. He now leads the league in strikeouts with 27 and is tied for the league lead in wins with three. Thomas Dillard (Ole Miss) and Zach Humphreys (TCU) each homered to lead the offense, while Jonathan Robertson (Creighton) had two RBI. Cotuit now leads the Barnstable Patriot Cup series 2-1.

Falmouth 6, Wareham 4

The Commodores rallied past first-place Wareham for their third consecutive win. Trailing 3-2 in the top of the ninth, Falmouth broke out for four runs. Hayden Cantrelle (Louisiana Lafayette) scored on an error to tie the game and Logan Davidson (Clemson) plated the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly. Back from Team USA trials, Jack Little (Stanford) gave up one run in the bottom of the ninth stranded the tying run on base for the save. Kyle Stowers (Stanford) had two hits and an RBI to pace the Commodores. Sahid Valenzuela (Cal State Fullerton) had three hits for Wareham and is now hitting .404.

Bourne 7, Orleans 2

Only one of Bourne’s 11 hits went for extra-bases, but timely singles led to plenty of offense in a win over Orleans. Six different players drove in runs, led by Gabe Holt (Texas Tech), who went 2-for-4 with two RBI. The freshman standout for the Red Raiders is off to a fast start since arriving from Omaha, with hits in six of his first seven games. Lyle Lin (Arizona State) added three hits and an RBI, while Chase Murray (Georgia Tech) had two hits and an RBI. Justin Lasko (UMass) allowed two runs in six innings for the win, with Trey Benton (East Carolina) and Jacob Wallace (UConn) combining on a shutout relief performance. For Orleans, Nicholas Osborne (Tennessee Tech) hit his third home run in seven games.

Y-D 6, Brewster 6

Brewster scored six runs in the first two innings, but Y-D battled all the way back to force a tie. Ray Alejo (Central Florida) had two hits and scored two runs to lead the Whitecaps. Quin Cotton (Grand Canyon) drove in two runs for Y-D. Ty Madrigal (St. Mary’s) was strong in relief for Y-D with four scoreless innings. Zach Linginfelter (Tennessee) struck out seven in 4.2 innings for Brewster.

What to Watch

Bourne and Falmouth are one game apart in the West standings and they meet tonight at Arnie Allen Diamond.

Wareham’s Andrew Vaughn (California) looked like the best hitter on the Cape when he departed for Team USA. Now another Golden Bear wearing Gatemen colors is emerging as the league’s best pitcher.

Joey Matulovich tossed six shutout innings in Tuesday’s 8-1 win over Cotuit and now owns a 0.37 ERA in five appearances. He has allowed one earned run – and just three runs total – in 24 innings of work.

Matulovich – a 6-foot-4 righty – is in his second summer with Wareham. He was a steady performer last year, putting up a 2.34 ERA in seven appearances. This spring, in his junior season at Cal, he made five starts and 14 relief appearances, turning in a 3.47 ERA.

The Brewers selected Matulovich in the 20th round of this year’s draft. Whether he inks a deal with them in the next few days – the signing deadline is July 6 – or returns to Cal for his senior season, he’s putting himself in a good spot with his Cape League dominance.

Matulovich started for Wareham on opening night and went four shutout innings. He allowed his lone earned run in his next start, when Orleans scratched one across . . . on an RBI fielder’s choice.

Four shutout innings of relief against Bourne followed before Matulovich allowed just an unearned run in five innings against Chatham last week.

Tuesday’s performance was the best of all.

Matulovich took a no-hitter into the fifth before Cory Wood (Coastal Carolina) broke it up with a double. That would be the only hit allowed by Matulovich, who struck out four in his six innings of work.

Wareham led 2-0 when Matulovich departed then piled on, scoring six runs over the final three innings. Austin Shenton (Florida International) had two hits and three RBI and Gian Martellini (Boston College) – playing against the Cape squad he played for last summer – homered and drove in three.

When it was over, Matulovich had his second win of the summer and a further-cemented spot atop the ERA ranks. He’s also tied for fourth in strikeouts. Perhaps most impressively, Matulovich has done it all while leading the league in innings pitched, so he’s not sneaking onto any leaderboards.

He’s pitching like the best in the league.

Y-D 12, Brewster 10

Y-D prevailed in a slugfest for its third straight win and now has a four-point edge on Chatham for first place in the East. The Red Sox have won nine out of their last 10 overall. Zubia (Texas) and Nicholas Quintana (Arizona) homered for the Red Sox, while Noah Campbell (South Carolina) had two hits and three RBI. Jonathan DeLuca (Oregon) added two hits and two RBI. Nathan Wiles (Oklahoma) allowed four runs in five innings, but with all the run support, he earned the win on the mound. Brewster scored two in the ninth to get within striking distance, but Tristan Baker (Western Carolina) stranded the tying runs on base to preserve the win. Brewster hit four home runs in the loss, with Cameron Eden (California) blasting two and Hunter Bishop (Arizona State) and Brandon Martorano (North Carolina) hitting one each.

Hyannis 6, Bourne 4

The Braves entered the night one game behind Hyannis for second place in the West, but the Harbor Hawks now own a two-game edge thanks to the key win. Bourne led 4-0 into the sixth, but Hyannis tied it then took the lead in the eighth. An error allowed two runs to score, before a Kyle Wilkie (Clemson) single and a Todd Lott (Louisiana-Lafayette) fielder’s choice made it 4-4. Seth Gray (Wright State) delivered the go-ahead runs with a two-run double in the eighth. Dylan Thomas (Hawaii) worked a scoreless ninth for his fourth save. Remarkably, Thomas leads the league in wins and is tied for the lead in saves.

Falmouth 6, Orleans 1

Falmouth pitchers didn’t allow an earned run and the offense steadily took control for a win over Orleans. Spencer Strider (Clemson) went six innings and surrendered an unearned run on three hits while striking out five. He now owns a 1.77 ERA. Nick Mikolajchak (Sam Houston State) allowed one hit in three shutout innings of relief. Kyle Stowers (Stanford) homered and drove in two to pace the Falmouth attack. Davis Sims (Murray State) added two RBI.

Chatham 13, Harwich 6

Chatham fell behind 5-2 in the fourth but scored 11 runs over the next four innings to run away with a win over Harwich. Tristin English (Georgia Tech) hit a grand slam – his fourth home run of the summer – to highlight the explosion. In his first game on the Cape, North Carolina standout Michael Busch also went deep for the Anglers. John Rave (Illinois State) and Jorge Arenas (Stetson) each added two hits and an RBI to the Chatham cause. Jeff Belge (St. John’s) pitched well in a long relief stint, allowing two runs in five innings while striking out eight. He took over the league lead in strikeouts with 24.

What to Watch

Three holiday games on tap as Harwich visits Brewster, Y-D heads to Hyannis and Orleans visits Chatham. Harwich will send Tyler Baum (North Carolina) to the hill in his first Cape start of 2018. The Tar Heel star led the Cape League in ERA last season.

One night after there was a 17-4 result on the Cape League scoreboard, every single game was decided by one run in Sunday’s slate. Hyannis, Brewster, Y-D, Orleans and Cotuit were the winners, with the Kettleers delivering the most drama among the series of close calls.

Cotuit gave up the tying run in the top of the ninth but walked off in the 11th for a 4-3 victory over Chatham at Lowell Park. Beau Brundage (Portland) was the hero all by himself, leading off the 11th with a solo home run to win it for the Kettleers.

Brundage came into the game hitting .317 as one of Cotuit’s most consistent performers, but he hadn’t yet hit a home run. In the spring at Portland, he hit only one homer, though he batted .378. But Brundage picked a good time to break through, smashing a 1-1 pitch from Nick Scheidler (UCLA) over the fence in right.

Cotuit also got good showings from Zachary Biermann (Coastal Carolina), who had two hits and an RBI, and Jonathan Robertson (Creighton), who drove in two runs. Cotuit scored its first three runs in the fifth, after getting no-hit for four innings by Chatham starter Alek Manoah (West Virginia), who struck out six in four frames.

Chatham’s tying run came home on a wild pitch after Tristin English (Georgia Tech) had doubled. Garrett Gayle (Rice) bounced back for a scoreless 10th inning and Joseph Walsh (Boston College) struck out two in a perfect 11th, setting the stage for Brundage’s heroics.

The win snapped a two-game slide for the Kettleers, who move to 9-8. Chatham is 8-7-2.

Brewster 5, Falmouth 4

After snapping a long losing streak with a tie Saturday, Brewster got back into the win column thanks to a ninth-inning rally. Trailing 4-3 in the top of the ninth at Falmouth, the Whitecaps jumped to the lead with two runs and held off the Commodores in the bottom half. Hunter Bishop (Arizona State) brought both runs in with a base hit, after Michael Massey (Illinois) walked and Ramon Alejo (Central Florida) walked. Conor Grammes (Xavier), who continues to ply his trade as a two-way player, pitched a scoreless ninth after he had given up the go-ahead run in the eighth. Brandon Wulff (Stanford) and Christian Molfetta (Stanford) also had RBI for the Whitecaps. Their college teammate Kyle Stowers (Stanford) had three hits for Falmouth.

Y-D 6, Wareahm 5

In a battle of first-place teams, East-leading Y-D had a little more than West leader Wareham. Reese Albert (Florida State) and Nicholas Quintana (Arizona) drove in two runs each to lead the Red Sox, while Quin Cotton (Grand Canyon) had three hits and scored two runs. Ryne Nelson (Oregon) allowed one run over the final three innings for a win in relief. Sahid Valenzuela (Cal State Fullerton) went 4-for-5 with three RBI for the Gatemen, who still own the best record in the league.

Orleans 7, Bourne 6

A five-run seventh inning rally – all with two outs – lifted the Firebirds over the Braves. Pat DeMarco (Vanderbilt) singled to plate two runs and the tying and go-ahead tallies both scored on an error. Spencer Steer (Oregon) delivered an RBI single to cap the burst. Bourne managed a run in the top of the ninth, but Aaron Ochsenbein (Eastern Kentucky) escaped further trouble to seal the win. Nicholas Osborne (Tennessee Tech) added a homer and two RBI for Orleans. For Bourne, Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville) pushed his hitting streak to six games with a 2-for-5, three-RBI night and Jared Triolo (Houston) hit his third home run.

Hyannis 2, Harwich 1

Single runs in the third and fourth innings were enough to get Hyannis past Harwich. Davis Wendzel (Baylor) and Brady Lindsly (Oklahoma) drove in the runs, and the pitching staff handled the rest. Gavin Hollowell (St. John’s) allowed one run in five innings for the win. Brett Schulze (Minnesota) pitched a scoreless sixth and Ryan Pepiot (Butler) turned in a dominant three-inning save, striking out six and allowing just one hit.

What to Watch

Just two games on the schedule, both West battles. Cotuit visits Falmouth and Bourne heads to Wareham.

The biggest hitters of the Cape League’s first two weeks were batting third and fourth for Team USA Friday night in a win over Chinese Taipei.

Their Cape League teams still have some pop in their absence.

Without Andrew Vaughn, Wareham jumped back into first place with a 4-3 win over Hyannis, thanks to big contributions from Jeremy Ydens (UCLA), Austin Shenton (Florida International) and Bryant Packard (East Carolina).

In Chatham, where Spencer Torkelson’s departure left a big hole, Tristin English (Georgia Tech) and Drew Mendoza (Florida State) homered as the Anglers beat Y-D 5-2.

Vaughn, recently honored as the Golden Spikes Award winner for his season at California, was hitting .308 with five homers, but he was far from alone in Wareham’s lineup. Shenton still leads the league in batting average, while Ydens and Packard have heated up lately.

Friday, Packard went 2-for-3, pushing his hitting streak to four and his season average to .314. Ydens went 2-for-3 with his first home run and three RBI. He’s now batting .333. Shenton wen 1-for-3 with a run scored and has hit safely in five straight games.

Wareham did most of its scoring early then held off the Harbor Hawks, who had been red-hot coming in. Hyannis had won six in a row to take over first place. The Gatemen – who own a 2-1 edge in the season series – are back on top of the division by a point thanks to the win.

As for Chatham, the Anglers had lost three in a row, a streak that began in the last game for Torkelson, who was hitting .389 with five home runs.

English and Mendoza snapped the Anglers out of their funk in a flash, with home runs a batter apart in the fourth inning. The blast was the third of the year for English, who has been one of the league’s best hitters so far this season. He’s slashing .415/.468/.707 and has delivered three consecutive two-hit games.

Mendoza, who hit .313 with seven homers for Florida State this season, hasn’t gotten off to a good Cape start like English. He was 1-for-12 on the year entering Friday’s game. If the home run gets him going, he’ll be a big presence for the Anglers.

The Anglers also got a good showing on the mound from Jack Conlon (Texas A&M), who allowed just an unearned run in five innings for the win.

Bourne 14, Brewster 0

Brewster is really struggling, and Bourne took full advantage with a 14-hit, 14-run explosion. Four different players had two hits for the Braves: Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville), Spencer Brickhouse (East Carolina), Cooper Johnson (Ole Miss) and Alika Williams (Arizona State). Fitzgerald, Jared Triolo (Houston) and Spencer Horwitz (Radford) each had two RBI. The offense was way more than enough for two Bourne pitchers. Justin Lasko (UMass) allowed four hits and struck out five in six shutout innings and Kyle Martin (Fordham) was dominant in a three-inning save, striking out seven of the 10 batters he faced and not allowing a hit. Bourne improved to 8-7-1. Brewster, which lost its seventh straight, is 3-11-1.

Harwich 10, Orleans 8

Harwich has generally won with pitching, but prevailed over Orleans in an extra-inning slugfest Friday to return to the top spot in the East standings. The Mariners trailed 8-2 but tied the game with two runs in the seventh and four in the eighth. Danny Casals (Maine) hit a two-run homer to break the tie in the 11th and Joe La Sorsa (St. John’s) pitched a scoreless bottom half to preserve the win. Casals finished 2-for-5 with three RBI, while Aaron Schunk (Georgia), Nate Eikhoff (Virginia) and Gabe Rivera (Miami) each had three hits. Andre Lipcius (Tennessee) homered and drove in two. Orleans lost despite three home runs and 14 hits. Spencer Steer (Oregon), Pat DeMarco (Vanderbilt) and Nicholas Osborne (Tennessee Tech) went deep for the Firebirds and J.J. Bleday (Vanderbilt) had three hits.

Falmouth 7, Cotuit 6

Falmouth walked off on Cotuit for its fifth consecutive win. Cameron Cannon (Arizona) was the hero with an RBI single to score Kyle Stowers (Stanford) in the bottom of the 10th inning. The game-winner capped a furious comeback for the Commodores, who trailed 6-1 in the sixth inning. A two-run double by Edouard Julien (Auburn) keyed a five-run rally that tied the game. Brent Killam (Georgetown) pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief to keep it deadlocked and Logan Rinehart (California Baptist) tossed 1.2 hitless frames for the win.

What to Watch

One of the top starters in the league so far, John Baker (Ball State), makes his fourth start as Cotuit visits Y-D.

What a difference a week made for the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.

On June 20, they lost to Wareham 9-0. They haven’t lost since, a stretch that came full circle Tuesday night with a 9-1 victory over those same Gatemen.

Hyannis now leads the West Division with a 9-4-1 record, knocking Wareham from the top spot for the first time all year.

The day after the lopsided loss, Hyannis tied Chatham. Then the win streak began, five in a row over Falmouth, Orleans twice, Harwich and now Wareham.

The latest victory figured to be a tough one to get as the Gatemen sent Ken Waldichuk (St. Mary’s) to the mound. After a great sophomore season, Waldichuk had allowed one run in his first two Cape League outings, but Hyannis got to him early and often.

Matthew Barefoot (Campbell) had a sac fly in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third. A two-run single by Eric Rivera (Florida International) in the fourth chased Waldichuk, and the Harbor Hawks kept piling on against the bullpen, getting three more runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Barefoot finished with three RBI, as did Pedro Pages (Florida International), who went 2-for-5 with a home run. Rivera had two RBI and Davis Wendzel (Baylor) had one. Five of Hyannis’ 12 hits went for extra bases.

Oddly enough, the Gatemen also finished with 12 hits but only two were of the extra-base variety and they left 10 runners on base. Nicholas MacDonald (Florida International) allowed one run in five innings for the win and three relievers combined on four scoreless innings.

Harwich 10, Cotuit 3

Garrett Stallings (Tennessee) continued to be the young season’s most consistent starter, and he had plenty of offense behind him as Harwich rolled past Cotuit. Stallings delivered his third six-inning start in three tries, this time allowing one earned run and striking out six with no walks. He has a 2.50 ERA and a league-best 21 strikeouts. The Mariner offense backed Stallings with a 14-hit attack. Chris Galland (Boston College) went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a triple and four RBI. Aaron Schunk (Georgia) had three hits, while Tanner Morris (Virginia) and Logan Driscoll (George Mason) drove in two runs each. Harwich leads the East with an 8-6-1 record.

Falmouth 4, Chatham 2

Falmouth scored two runs in the top of the 11th inning to beat Chatham in the longest game of the season so far. Maverick Handley (Stanford) played hero with a two-run homer that broke the deadlock. Chatham put two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the 11th, but Carson Spiers (Clemson) escaped the jam to preserve the win. Cameron Cannon (Arizona) added an RBI for Falmouth, which scored two runs in the top of the ninth after being shut-out for eight innings. Chatham tied the game in the bottom of the ninth on a home run by Kyle McCann (Georgia Tech). Georgia Tech teammate Tristin English also homered for Chatham. Greg Jones (UNC Wilmington) also had a big night, going 4-for-6.

Y-D 10, Orleans 4

The Red Sox raced out of the gate with six runs in the first inning and three more in the second and never looked back in a win over Orleans. Andrew Daschbach (Stanford) homered and drove in two, Nicholas Quintana (Arizona) had three hits and two RBI, and Noah Campbell (South Carolina) had three hits and one RBI. Alec Marsh (Arizona State) went four solid innings and Trenton Denholm (UC Irvine) earned the win with three scoreless innings of relief.

Bourne 10, Brewster 9

Bourne smashed four home runs and out-slugged Brewster. Jared Triolo (Houston), Ashton Bardzell (Hartford), Thaddeus Phillips (UConn) and Alika Williams (Arizona State) did the home run honors for the Braves, with Williams’ blast in the ninth proving to be the game-winning run. Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville) added four hits and two runs scored and Spencer Brickhouse (East Carolina) had three RBI. Brewster got three hits from Conor Grammes (Xavier), including a home run in the bottom of the ninth that made it 10-9, but Trey Benton (East Carolina) stranded the tying run on second to preserve the win.

What to Watch

A night after a battle for first place in the West, the top two teams in the East will square off as Harwich hosts Y-D. The Mariners have a one-point edge on the Red Sox.

 
Seven pitchers. Two shutouts.

It was a good night to take the mound for Hyannis and Orleans.

Three pitchers combined on a shutout for the Harbor Hawks in a 2-0 win over Harwich and four did the honors for Orleans in a 5-0 win over Brewster.

The win for Hyannis was its fourth in a row. Making his first start after two relief appearances, Jeremy Randolph (Wright State) started the scoreless streak with 4.2 innings. He allowed five hits and two walks but managed to escape a couple of jams, thanks in part to catcher Kyle Wilkie (Clemson), who caught a pair of runners stealing.

Reliever Ryan Pepiot (Butler) entered one of the tough spots in the fifth but wiggled out of a bases-loaded situation with a ground ball. Pepiot would go on to toss 2.1 innings without allowed a hit.

Adam Elliott (Louisville) came on for the eighth and worked two scoreless frames to finish off the shutout. By then, Hyannis had a lead, thanks to an RBI by Trevor Hauver (Arizona State) and an error that allowed another run to score.

In Orleans, the Firebirds followed a similar pitching script. Kade Mechals (Skagit Valley College), a junior college transfer who’s bound for Grand Canyon, allowed three hits and struck out three in five innings for the win. Kevin Kelly (James Madison) followed with two innings of one-hit ball, and Nicholas Osborne (Tennessee Tech) pitched a one-hit eighth. Shay Smiddy (Louisville) struck out two in a perfect ninth to finish out the win.

Spencer Steer (Oregon) hit his second home run of the summer to lead the Orleans offense, while James Free II (Pacific) had two RBI.

League batting average leader Michael Massey (Illinois) continued his season-long hitting streak for Brewster with a 1-for-4 day. He has at least one hit in all 11 games he’s played.

What to Watch

The top two teams in the West square off at McKeon Park as Hyannis hosts Wareham.