daily fog: arrivals and departures

There were better lines and more important lines last night, but a 1-for-4 from a Harwich Mariner stands out.

It belonged to Dustin Ackley, who finally made his long-awaited Cape League debut in last night’s game at Y-D. The North Carolina sophomore was the national freshman of the year last season after hitting .402 with 10 home runs. He was on the Chatham roster for the summer but never made it to the Cape.

This spring, Ackley continued to shine, hitting .417 with seven home runs. I kind of thought he’d be a shoo-in for Team USA, and it wasn’t a surprise when he showed up on their invite list. But Ackley wasn’t on the final roster, so he headed for Harwich.

His arrival is big in its own right — he’s probably the top hitting prospect in his class, and he’ll give Harwich a huge boost.

But his arrival is also big for what it represents: the Cape League season is about to hit full speed. Ackley was one of the final players teams were waiting for, and now, things are finally getting sorted out. Final rosters will be set today. Already a lot of X’s are popping up on the stat sheet, as temporary players head home. Some temporary players will grab permanent spots.

Regardless of how it shakes out, when the dust settles, there won’t be much more shuffling. The players in uniform now are the players we’ll see the rest of the summer. For the most part, how the teams look now is how they’ll look in August.

That’s good reason to get excited about a 1-for-4.

Elsewhere

• Ackley’s day helped Harwich blow past Y-D 9-3. J.T. Wise (Oklahoma) went 3-for-4 to lead the Mariners while Chase Leavitt (Arkansas) went 3-for-5. Steve Kalush (Santa Clara) allowed one run in seven strong innings.

• Y-D’s lineup will look a lot different the rest of the way. As Russ Charpentier noted, two-sport star Jared Mitchell is heading home to participate in LSU’s football practice. Greg Miclat, who was hitting, .325 in the leadoff spot, is also gone. Miclat was a fifth-round pick this June, but it still doesn’t look he has signed, so I’m not sure why he left.

• Cotuit snapped its three-game losing streak with a 6-5 extra-innings victory over Chatham. Mike Bianucci (Auburn), who was back in the lineup after a day off yesterday, went 3-for-6 to lead the Kettleers. Nate Garcia (Santa Clara) got the start and went four scoreless innings. Drew Storen (Stanford), making his second appearance, picked up the win in relief. Chatham got a Tar Heel of its own, as second baseman Kyle Seager made his first start.

• Orleans scored seven runs. That’s not a misprint. The Cardinals, who have struggled mightily with the bats this summer, put up their best offensive day of the year to beat Brewster 7-3. Matt Bowman (Nevada) and Nate Freiman (Duke) each had two hits to lead the Cardinals, who moved to .500 with the win.

• Jonathan Kountis (Ohio Dominican), who had made five relief appearances, got his first start for Falmouth and made it count. He went five shutout innings and got the win as the Commodores beat Hyannis 4-0.

• In Sunday’s extra-inning game, several Bourne players got seven at-bats, which isn’t always fun or particularly good for the batting average. Jordan Henry (Ole Miss) got seven again last night, but he enjoyed them. Henry went 6-for-7 to lead the Braves past Wareham 13-4. He raised his average to .364. Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Jamie Johnson (Oklahoma) each had two hits for Bourne, while Ricky Bowen (Mississippi State) worked six strong innings.

What to Watch For Tonight

• Sammy Solis (San Diego), who still has a 0.00 ERA, will get the ball for Chatham as the A’s host Y-D.

• Nick Hernandez (Tennessee), who left his last start early when he took a line drive off the foot, will be back on the mound tonight as the Cotuit hosts Bourne.

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