We’re still at an early point in the season where one game can have a big impact on a statistic. A team’s batting average could drop pretty significantly with a bad showing.
Or it could go up by 41 points.
That’s just what happened to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on Thursday night. Already the league leaders with a .280 team batting average, the Red Sox pushed that mark all the way to .321 with a mammoth 22-hit performance in a 13-2 victory over Brewster. Y-D improved to 4-3 with the blowout.
Looking at rosters around the league in the preseason, I probably wouldn’t have pegged Y-D as an offensive juggernaut. It looked like the Red Sox would have a lot of guys coming off solid springs, but maybe not that many who were primed for summer stardom.
But everybody on the roster — even some fill-ins — have done nothing but hit. Tyler Sciacca (Villanova), a late addition to the roster, leads the league with a .588 batting average. Ten players are hitting .300 or better.
And Thursday was the best day yet. The game was 1-1 after three, but the Red Sox exploded over the final six innings, getting 18 of their 22 hits in that span.
Sam Travis (Indiana), Wayne Taylor (Stanford) and Alex Blandino (Stanford) each hit home runs for the biggest blows. Robert Pehl (Washington), the team’s most productive hitter thus far, went 4-for-5 with two doubles and an RBI.
The hitting must have been contagious too. Blandino, who was making his first appearance of the summer, went 2-for-4 with four RBI, while Tanner Mathis (Ole Miss) went 3-for-6 in his season debut. Mason Katz, who’s back with the Red Sox after not getting drafted after his junior year at LSU, also made his season debut, and went 2-for-5 with an RBI.
With that kind of display, I’m guessing Y-D’s pitchers were smiling all night. Aaron Blair (Marshall), who struck out eight in five shutout innings in his first start, delivered another quality performance. He struck out seven and allowed four hits and an unearned run in six innings. Blair hasn’t an allowed an earned run yet this year.
Elsewhere
Falmouth had a big offensive day as well, breaking through in the late innings for a 10-4 victory over Hyannis. Jared King (Kansas State) and Billy Ferriter (UConn) each hit their first home runs of the year, Mike O’Neill (Michigan) went 3-for-4 and Alex Maldonado (Holy Cross) had two hits and and two RBI. The game shaped up as a pitchers’ duel in the early going, with Falmouth starter Craig Schlitter (Bryant) and Hyannis’ Sean Manaea (Indiana State) allowing a combined six hits in the first six innings. But Falmouth scored three unearned runs off Manaea then broke out against the Hyannis bullpen. Schlitter got the win for the Commodores with nine strikeouts and just two hits allowed in six innings. The Commodores are now 5-2 and are the only team in the West with a winning record.
Harwich stretched its win streak to three with a steady 7-1 victory over host Wareham. Eric Jagielo (Notre Dame) hit his second home run of the year in the first inning, and Matt Reida (Kentucky) also hit a home run, giving Harwich a league-best nine home runs on the year. Reida went 4-for-5 overall and Jagielo was 3-for-5. Three newcomers made their much anticipated debuts, with Austin Wilson (Stanford) going 2-for-3, Brian Ragira (Stanford) going 1-for-5 and Brett Austin (North Carolina State) going 2-for-4. On the mound, David Whitehead (Elon) and three relievers limited the Gatemen to just four hits.
Chatham trailed 2-1 in the fifth but caught fire late and beat Bourne 9-3. Aaron Brown (Pepperdine), Chatham’s leading hitter, had two more hits to bring his average to .389. Chad Pinder (Virginia Tech) went 2-for-5 with two RBI and is now hitting .346. Leadoff man Adam Engel (Louisville) also had two hits. Scott Frazier (Pepperdine) pitched five solid innings for Chatham, while Tate Parrish (North Carolina) got the win in relief. For Bourne, Mike Ahmed (Holy Cross) hit his second home run of the summer.
Orleans ran its league-best record to 6-1 by outlasting Cotuit 8-6. The Firebirds led 7-1 before the Kettleers made a game of it late. As usual, though, Orleans closer Trevor Gott (Kentucky) took the wind out of the comeback sails, this time picking up a six-out save after coming in with two runners on and nobody out in the eighth. After getting out of the jam with only run allowed, Gott slammed the door in the ninth for his fourth save. He still hasn’t allowed a hit. Dylan Covey (San Diego) got the win for the Firebirds with two strong innings of relief. Trevor Williams (Arizona State) made what was expected to be his last start before heading to Team USA, and he went three shutout innings. The Orleans offense was led by Pi’ikea Kitamura (Hawaii), who went 3-for-5 with two RBI.
What to Watch
A couple of pitchers to keep an eye on tonight. Adam McCreery (Arizona State), who struck out nine in 4.1 innings in his first start, will get the ball for Cotuit as it hosts Brewster at 5 p.m. And Gonzaga lefty Marco Gonzales will make his second start for Falmouth in a 6:30 p.m. home game against Wareham. It looks like Gonzales will be headed to Team USA after this so it may be your last chance to see him.
Side note: Daily Fog won’t be up until the afternoon tomorrow, in case you’re looking for it.
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Another rough night for the Western Division.
Let’s move Y-D to the West and add expansion teams in Wellfleet and Provincetown to the East.
Then let’s scrap the NHL-style playoffs and have only the top two teams in each six-team division make the playoffs.
Then the CCBL truly would be Baseball Heaven.