North Carolina always sends a lot of players to the Cape Cod Baseball League. It’s a true bumper crop this year, with 13 Tar Heels spread across five different Cape teams.
The UNC Baseball twitter account is documenting head coach Mike Fox’s visit to the Cape, where he’s catching up with his guys.
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) July 4, 2017
And they are playing well in front of him. Tyler Baum went six strong innings for Harwich Sunday night, Orleans’ Josh Hiatt and Taylor Sugg shined out of the bullpen Monday.
But something had to give Tuesday night. Brewster’s Kyle Datres stepped in against UNC teammate Cole Aker in the top of the eighth in a tie game. Datres won the battle, getting an RBI single for what proved to be the winning run in a 7-6 victory.
The win snapped a four-game losing streak for the Whitecaps, who have managed to stay close to Y-D for second place while Orleans continues to pull away. Chandler Taylor (Alabama) homered for the Whitecaps while Julian Infante (Vanderbilt) drove in two runs. Sam Bordner (Louisville) and Robert Broom (Mercer) delivered a scoreless inning each to close the door on the Mariners.
Datres finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and the RBI, and is now hitting .289, second-best among the Tar Heel hitters on the Cape. Brandon Riley’s .309 average for Orleans leads the way. The pitching has been even better, with Baum and Austin Bergner looking very good, and Hiatt dominating in the Firebirds pen.
They’re probably all hoping Coach Fox will stick around.
Orleans 4, Chatham 3
Whether they’re winning by a wide margin or prevailing in close games, the Firebirds continue to roll on. The streak hit 10 games with the Fourth of July win over the Anglers.
The @FirebirdsCCBL are the first team to win 10 consecutive games in the CCBL since the @CotuitKettleers did so in 2012.
— League Statistician (@ccblstats) July 5, 2017
Three runs in the third inning gave the Firebirds a 4-0 lead, which they held on to against a hard-charging Chatham club. Stephen Scott (Vanderbilt) had an RBI double and Jaxx Groshans (Kansas) hit a two-run homer in the three-run third. Logan GIlbert (Stetson) went five no-hit innings with three strikeouts. Chatham did some rare damage against the Orleans’ bullpen – led by Jeremy Pena’s (Maine) two-run homer – but Brooks Wilson struck out the side in the ninth to close out the win.
Hyannis 4, Y-D 0
The Red Sox have been shut-out by 4-0 scores in three consecutive games. Hyannis was the latest, getting five strong innings from starter Austin Drury (North Florida) in his first Cape League appearance. The bullpen held up its end of the bargain, with Brooks Crawford (Clemson) tossing three innings of no-hit ball and Ryan Weiss (Wright State) pitching a scoreless ninth. Chris Proctor (Duke) led the Hyannis offense with a three-run homer. Ryan Olenek (Ole Miss) drove in the other run.
Cotuit 5, Falmouth 3
Cotuit topped Falmouth and created a three-way tie with the Commodores and Bourne for first place in the West. All three teams are 11-9. The Kettleers got two hits from Zack Kone (Duke) and RBI from Brett Kinneman (NC State), Luke Alexander (Mississippi State) and Miles Lewis (Michigan). They broke a 1-1 tie with two runs in the sixth and two more in the eighth. Seth Shuman (Georgia Southern) allowed just an unearned run in five innings. Reliever Austin Kitchen (Coastal Carolina) allowed one run in three innings for the win and Clark Cota (UNC Wilmington) finished it off by stranding the tying runs on base in the ninth. Cotuit has won three in a row and Falmouth has lost two straight on the heels of a six-game win streak.
Wareham 4, Bourne 2
Wareham is a little further back in the West standings but did its part in creating the three-way tie at the top with a win over the Braves. Jarren Duran (Long Beach State), Steven Kwan (Oregon State) and Willie MacIver (Washington) drove in one run each in a three-run third inning that proved to be the difference. John Toppa (UConn) finished with two hits and two runs scored. After Griffin Roberts (Wake Forest) allowed two runs in four innings with five strikeouts, three relievers combined to limit Bourne to one hit over the final five frames. Jordan Britton (Oregon State) went three innings for the win, Grant Wolfram (Davenport) went one scoreless inning and Brett Conine (Cal State Fullerton) struck out the side in the ninth for the save.
What to Watch
The holiday home-and-home sets conclude with a full slate of games tonight.