Samford’s Philip Ervin hit .327 this spring with 10 home runs. Notre Dame’s Eric Jagielo hit .310 with 13 homers.
It’s summer now, but they are not slowing down.
Ervin and Jagielo have been two of the most productive and hottest hitters in the league thus far, and they’re powering Harwich to a really quick start. In a 9-5 victory over Bourne last night — the team’s fourth in a row — Ervin went 4-for-4 and hit his league-leading fourth home run. He drove in two runs to bring his league-leading total to 11, and he’s now hitting .433, good for second in the league.
Jagielo hasn’t been quite as scorching as Ervin, but he’s not far behind. He went 1-for-4 last night with his third home run of the season. He ranks third in the league in RBI with eight and is sixth in batting average.
The Mariners improved to 6-2 with the win. While their lineup is getting stronger by the day with the addition of four high-profile players, it’s Ervin and Jagielo who are just carrying the team right now. Ervin has a hit in seven of eight games, with four multi-hit performances. Seven of his 13 hits have gone for extra-bases.
Batting behind Ervin, Jagielo has a hit in six of eight games and seven of his 12 hits have gone for extra bases.
In short, there isn’t a better duo in the league right now. They’re the biggest reason why the Mariners lead the league in home runs, extra-base hits, slugging percentage and OPS.
And those are pretty good signs of success, which the Mariners have had plenty of.
Elsewhere
Bourne’s Mike Ahmed (Holy Cross) has been pretty hot himself and he had another great game in the losing effort against Harwich last night. Ahmed went 2-for-5 with his third home run. He’s now hitting .387, good for third in the league.
For all of the Harwich love around here, the Orleans Firebirds are still sitting in first place in the East. The Firebirds improved to 7-1 last night with an 8-3 victory over Hyannis. And it looks like Orleans is actually heating up. The team banged out a season-high 13 hits last night, led by a two home run night for Conrad Gregor (Vanderbilt). Cody Kulp (Shippensburg) added three hits, including a home run, and three RBI. Jimmy Reed (Maryland) got the win for Orleans with five strong innings, and the bullpen allowed just three hits over the final four innings. Hyannis dropped to 0-8 with the loss.
Chatham continues to keep pace in the East as well. The Anglers beat Y-D 9-2 last night to improve to 6-2. Aaron Brown (Pepperdine) and Dale Carey (Miami) had a home run and two RBI apiece, while Andrew Knapp (California) also had two RBI. Kurt Schluter (Stetson) allowed two runs in five innings for the win. Y-D actually out-hit Chatham 9-8 but didn’t score again after getting two runs in the first.
Wareham won a wild one with Falmouth, 12-10 in 11 innings. Facing John Simms (Rice), who didn’t allow an earned run all last summer, the Gatemen scored two in the top of the 11th and eventually came away with the win. Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) scored the go-ahead run on a suicide squeeze from Mott Hyde (Georgia Tech). Matthew Walsh (Franklin Pierce) knocked in the second run with an RBI groundout. Jonathan Holder (Mississippi State), who had come on in the ninth and given up a game-tying home run to Michael O’Neill (Michigan), stayed in the game after that and worked a scoreless 11th after his team got the lead. Wareham moved within a game of Falmouth for first place.
Cotuit had its best offensive night of the season in a 10-5 victory over Brewster. Making his second appearance of the summer, LSU star Raph Rhymes went 1-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. The Kettleers also got home runs from Aramis Garcia (Florida International) and Jacob May (Coastal Carolina). Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) added two RBI. Adam McCreery (Arizona State) struck out five and gave up four runs — two earned — in three innings after a dominant start in his first Cape appearance. In relief, Jordan Ramsey (UNC-Wilmington) pitched three scoreless innings for the win.
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Is anybody else thinking that the CCBL ball might be juiced this season? I feel like 2012 is the equivalent of 1920 in MLB. I can’t remember a night when so many runs were scored in the CCBL.
Lots of offense, that’s for sure. Pitching talent looks to be down. Even when there aren’t a lot of runs, there haven’t been many overwhelming pitching performances. A lot of five inning, three strikeout kind of starts.
Here’s a theory from a friend who’s a scout: He thinks that the transition from metal to wood doesn’t take as long as it used to now that the colleges are using the new bats.
That makes a lot of sense.