It’s tough to say which unit has been the most impressive for the undefeated Harwich Mariners. Is it the starting rotation, with five guys delivering strong debuts? Or is it the bullpen and its two runs allowed in five games?
The Mariners don’t have to choose – it’s all working just fine together.
Harwich improved to 5-0 Tuesday with a 5-2 victory over Orleans, and pitching again set the stage. Ryan McAuliffe (St. John’s) allowed one run and struck out five in six innings of work. Brad Bass (Notre Dame), Teddy Rodliff (Stony Brook) and Zach Schellenger (Seton Hall) went the final three innings, with Rodliff allowing the only other run.
McAuliffe became the fifth consecutive Harwich starter to earn a win. As little as wins matter as a statistic, they do reflect in this case that Harwich’s starters are pitching well and pitching deep into games – something that doesn’t always happen in the Cape League, especially at this point in the year.
Hunter Williams (North Carolina) and Packy Naughton (Virginia Tech) each went five innings. McAuliffe, Shane McCarthy (Seton Hall) and B.J. Myers (West Virginia) went at least six innings in their first start.
The four runs Naughton allowed in his start are the most surrendered by a Harwich starter.
And when the starters have passed the baton on to the bullpen, the numbers have been even better. In 15 innings, Harwich relievers have allowed a total of two runs. Bass, Schellenger, Matthew Minnick (Mercyhurst), Peter Solomon (Notre Dame) and Spencer Stockton (Jacksonville) are all proud owners of 0.00 ERAs.
Of course, there’s also been plenty of support for the Harwich arms. The Mariners lead the league in runs scored (in one extra game than eight of the league’s teams). Tuesday, the Mariners made the most of seven hits and capitalized on four Orleans errors. Trey Harris (Missouri) and Ryan Brown (College of Charleston) knocked in a run apiece. Tyler Kirkpatrick (Marist) scored two runs.
At 5-0, the Mariners are a quarter of the way to last season’s win total, when they missed the playoffs.
Bourne 7, Cotuit 5
Bourne is also unbeaten, moving to 4-0 with a victory over still-winless Cotuit. The Kettleers scored five runs in the seventh in rallying from a 4-0 deficit, but the Braves responded with a run in the eighth and two in the ninth. A sacrifice fly by Luis Alvarado (Nebraska) tied the game in the eighth. Willy Yahn (Connecticut) tripled in Connor Wong (Houston) in the ninth and scored on a David MacKinnon (Hartford) sac fly. The rally made a winner out of reliever Keith Weisenberg (Stanford), with Conner O’Neil (Cal State Northridge) notching the save. Bourne starter Brady Miller (Western Oregon), who struck out 89 in the D-II ranks this spring, had a big Cape debut with six shutout innings and seven strikeouts. For Cotuit, the five-run seventh inning was a good sign for a team that had scored only four runs coming into the game. Hagen Owenby (East Tennessee State) had two hits and two RBI to lead the Kettleers.
The Commodores authored the third shutout of the Cape League season and improved to 3-1 while dropping Hyannis to 0-5. Jacob Godfrey (Arizona State) went five innings for the win, scattering five hits and striking out two. Four relievers went an inning each to finish off the shutout. At the plate, Falmouth got two-hit games from Kevin Merrell (South Florida), Michael Gigliotti (Lipscomb), Trevor Larnach (Oregon State) and Michael Cantu (Texas). Merrell is hitting .529 with at least one hit in every game.
Defending champ Y-D also is still in search of its first victory after a lead Chatham built in the sixth held up for a 4-3 win. Patrick Mathis (Texas) did all the damage in the key inning for the Anglers, smacking a three-run homer to put the Anglers ahead 4-1. Y-D answered with two in the bottom of the sixth but would get no closer. Chatham starter Tom Cosgrove (Manhattan) gave up one run in five innings before getting charged with the two in the sixth. Matt Pidich (Pittsburgh) ended the threat with a pair of strikeouts. His college teammate Isaac Mattson went the final two innings for the save. Y-D was led by Brendan Skidmore (Binghamton), who knocked in two.
The Gatemen managed only three hits but turned them into three runs as they improved to 3-1 with a victory over Brewster. Gavin Sheets (Wake Forest) and Jonathan Engelmann (Michigan) drove in runs for the Gatemen on a groundout and a fielder’s choice. Robert Metz (George Washington) scored what proved to be the winning run on a wild pitch. Anthony Herron, Jr. (Jefferson College), a 34th-round draft pick last week and a Missouri State commit, started and went four shutout innings in his Cape debut. Ryan Selmer (Maryland) earned the win in relief and Ryan Wilson (Pepperdine) recorded a three-inning save. For Brewster, Ryan Feltner (Ohio State) allowed two earned runs in 5.1 innings but took the loss. Jacob Wloczewski (Binghamton) struck out three in 2.2 scoreless innings of relief.
What to Watch
Four makeup games from Saturday’s rainouts are on tap. Keep an eye on the proceedings at Doran Park, where Bourne will start another D-II standout after Brady Miller’s strong performance Tuesday. Ty Cohen struck out 98 in 90.1 innings for Florida Tech and gets the ball against Chatham.