A few days ago, it looked like Chatham might have to hold off Brewster for the final playoff spot in the East. The Anglers did that — and didn’t stop there.
With Orleans cooling down, Chatham moved within striking distance of third place and then seized it by beating the Firebirds on back-to-back days to end the season. The teams finished with the same number of points in the standings, and by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker, Chatham will get the No. 3 seed. The Anglers will play Y-D in the playoffs. Harwich and Orleans, the two best teams in the league for a lot of the year, will now have to play each other in the first round.
While Orleans’ five-game losing streak had a lot to do with the late shuffling, Chatham’s performance on the final two days of the season can’t be ignored. They beat the Firebirds 4-0 on Monday and, with the third seed in sight, they started fast last night and never looked back en route to a 7-2 victory.
Chatham scored twice in each of the first two innings, added to the lead from there and got another strong all-around pitching performance. After four pitchers combined to shut out the Firebirds on Monday, four more pitchers did almost as well last night. Louie Lechich (San Diego) and Dace Kime (Louisville) each allowed a run in three innings. Tate Parrish (North Carolina) followed with two scoreless innings and Jaime Schultz (High Point) pitched a scoreless ninth.
Alex Calbick (Maine) went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI, while Andrew Knapp (California) homered for a second straight game. Mike Fransoso went 3-for-4.
Elsewhere
Wareham’s Tyler Horan (Virginia Tech) doubled but did not a home run, so he ends up tied for the Cape League’s wood bat home run record. Cotuit’s Patrick Biondi (Michigan), who was on the hunt for .400, went 1-for-3 on the final day and finished at .388. He’s the Cape League’s batting champ, and his average is the highest since 2003, when Brewster’s J.C. Holt also hit .388.
In the other action with playoff implications, Wareham beat Bourne 6-5. Combined with a Falmouth loss, that means the Gatemen will be the No. 2 seed in the West and will have home-field advantage in the first round. The Gatemen have won four in a row, and took this one in dramatic fashion. In the 10th inning, Dustin DeMuth (Indiana) hit a walk-off RBI double to give Wareham the victory. Tyler McFarland (James Madison) went 3-for-3 for the Gatemen and Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) had two hits. Cole Sturgeon (Louisville) got the win with three strong innings of relief.
Top seeds Cotuit and Harwich both finished with victories. The Kettleers beat Falmouth 9-3, while Harwich topped Brewster 5-1. For Cotuit, Angel Rosa (Alcorn State), Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) and Cael Brockmeyer (Cal State Bakersfield) all hit home runs. Jacob Stone (Weatherford College) got the win on the mound. Cotuit finished with 60 points in the standings, the most since the 2007 Y-D Red Sox had 63. Meanwhile, for Harwich, slugger Phillip Ervin (Samford) actually got the start on the mound and went three scoreless innings. Cole Pitts (Georgia Tech) also went three scoreless frames. Sam Dove (Georgia Tech) led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a home run. Harwich’s home run record will go into the books at 64, five better than the old mark.
Hyannis won’t be making the playoffs, but the Harbor Hawks went out with two straight wins after beating Y-D 10-9 last night. Hyannis ended up tied with Bourne for fourth, but the Braves had already taken the tiebreaker. Still, Hyannis battled to the bitter end, scoring three runs in the top of the ninth to beat the playoff-bound Red Sox. Pat Fortunato (Rhode Island) hit a two-run homer to tie the game in the ninth before a Blake Austin (Auburn) RBI single plated the go-ahead run. Gage Smith (Florida State) then pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth to seal the win. The Harbor Hawks hit four home runs on the day, with Brandon Trinkwon (UC Santa Barbara), Mitchell Garver (New Mexico) and Brad Zebedis (Presbyterian) joining Fortunato.
What to Watch
The league has an off-day today before the playoffs begin Thursday.
Here are the match-ups:
East
1 Harwich vs. 4 Orleans
2 Y-D vs. 3 Chatham
West
1 Cotuit vs. 4 Bourne
2 Wareham vs. 3 Falmouth
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Let’s not overlook the significance of Cotuit reaching the 30-win plateau. It is a rare feat, last accomplished by the 2007 Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (31-12-1, .721). That 2007 team was the best of the “YDynasty” that won three championships in four seasons, and it just may be the best CCBL team of all-time. YD led the league with a .278 batting average and the first four hitters in the order all became first-round picks: Grant Green (.291-4-12), Buster Posey (.281-3-19), Jason Castro (.341-4-24), and Gordon Beckham (.284-9-35). Those Red Sox could pitch, too, with the league’s best closer, Nick Cassavechia (1.01, 11 saves), and a rotation featuring Terry Doyle (6-3, 2.35), Eddie Burns (5-1, 2.56), Trevor Holder (4-1, 0.89), and Scott Green (3-1, 1.56). The team posted the best regular-season record of the past decade, then secured its place in history by sweeping both Chatham and Falmouth in the playoffs.
Should be an interesting series between YD and Chatham with the top team in batting average against the second ranked team in ERA.
Chatham finishes in 3rd in the East ahead of Orleans? Not bad for a team that was said to be worse than Brewster a couple weeks ago…