On a night when the Hyannis offense was held down for the second game in a row in a 5-0 loss to Bourne, the Harwich Mariners continued their surge and surpassed Hyannis for the best record in the league. Harwich beat Cotuit 7-3 for its fifth consecutive victory. The Mariners are now 10-4, and have gone 8-2 since a 2-2 start.
The win over Cotuit was a pretty typical performance — solid pitching from everybody who took the mound and plenty of offense. Joe Mantiply (Virginia Tech) started and allowed two runs in three innings. Anthony Pisani (Rhode Island) then allowed a run in a third of an inning before the bullpen slammed the door. Chris Overman (NC State) went 2.2 shutout innings for the victory andb(Mt. Olive) added two more scoreless frames before Blake Hauser (Virginia Commonwealth) got himself into then out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam to seal the win.
Harwich has now allowed three runs or less in every game of its winning streak. In fact, when you look at the whole season, Harwich has only allowed more than three runs in two games — and one was a victory. Orleans still has the edge on Harwich for the league lead in team ERA, but the Mariners have certainly been good enough.
As for the offense, the numbers say the Mariners haven’t completely hit their stride yet. As a team, they’re batting .226, eighth in the league. But last night, they had double-digit hits for the second game in a row — so maybe they’re starting to hit their stride.
Ronnie Richardson (Central Florida) and John Wooten (East Carolina) each had three hits in last night’s win. Austin Wilson (Stanford) added two RBI and Jake Davies (Georgia Tech) hit a home run. Everyone in the Harwich lineup had at least one hit and five of them drove in a run.
Elsewhere
After getting just one hit on Saturday, Hyannis had eight on Sunday but still couldn’t get in gear and lost 5-0 to Bourne. Chris Pickering (Rhode Island), a late addition to the Braves roster, had his third solid start of the year. He struck out four and scattered seven hits in 5.2 shutout innings. John Farrell (William & Mary), Kevin Brady (Clemson), and b (Florida Atlantic) did the rest, combining to allow just one hit in the final 3.1 innings to finish it off. Zach Alvord (Auburn) had a home run for Bourne while Colin Kish (Florida Southern) drove in two. With the win, Bourne moved into a three-way tie for second in the West with Wareham and Falmouth.
Speaking of Falmouth, break up the Commodores. The team that started 0-7 has lost just once since that skid and picked up its fourth win in a row last night, a 4-1 victory over Orleans. Falmouth has now beaten West-leading Hyannis and Orleans, the East’s second-place team, on consecutive nights. Andrew Aizenstadt (Babson) got the win for Falmouth last night, allowing one run in five innings to lower his ERA to 1.06. John Simms (Rice) picked up his fourth save, which is tied for the league lead — and he still hasn’t allowed a run. The Falmouth offense picked up RBI from Jack Marder (Oregon), Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State) and Max White (Oklahoma).
Chatham rallied from a 5-3 deficit with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth to beat Y-D 6-5. Amazingly, it’s the first home win of the year for Chatham. The Red Sox were still clinging to a 5-4 lead entering the bottom of the ninth, but Dane Phillips (Oklahoma State) walked with one out before Richie Shaffer (Clemson) hit a double to put runners on second and third. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Phillips scored the tying run on an error by the pitcher. Joe Sever (Pepperdine) then plated the winning run with a walk-off single to right field.
Brewster didn’t let Wareham have the same kind of comeback as the Whitecaps posted a 3-2 victory. The Gatemen picked up a run in the seventh to cut a two-run deficit to one, but the Brewster bullpen made sure they got no closer. Jordan John (Oklahoma) started and got the win for Brewster after allowing just an unearned run in five innings. Joey Chargois (Rice) picked up the save. Ryan Jones (Michigan State) had two RBI for the Whitecaps, while Taylor Davis (Morehead State) went 3-for-4 to take over the league lead in batting average. He’s now at .389.
What to Watch
Game: The rivalry game that was rained out last week is scheduled to be made up tonight as Hyannis hosts Cotuit at 7 p.m. The Harbor Hawks are trying to snap a mini-skid while Cotuit will be trying to end a six-game losing streak.
Players: Pepperdine’s Jon Moscot is the starting pitcher for Hyannis and could be just the stopper the Harbor Hawks need. Moscot hasn’t allowed a run in eight innings of work.
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