A 13-3 blowout of Bourne on Sunday was the sixth straight win for Falmouth. With another game coming against second-place Bourne and two against third-place Cotuit, the Commodores headed into Fourth of July festivities with a chance to pull away in the West standings.
Instead, Bourne stopped the win streak Monday. And the last two days, Cotuit turned the chance to pull away into a slip to second place.
With two straight wins over Falmouth – and four straight overall – the Kettleers moved into first place by themselves with a 12-9 record. They beat the Commodores 5-3 on the Fourth of July and 9-3 yesterday.
The Kettleers have been streaky for much of the early part of the season. They started the season with four straight wins then took four straight losses. Now with their latest four-game win streak, they’re back in business.
(Wofford) went six strong innings for the win Wednesday, striking out four and allowing two runs on five hits. After reliever Chase Cohen (Georgia Southern) got into trouble in the seventh, Jayce Vancena (Michigan) came on and stranded a pair of two runners, then pitched two scoreless frames to finish out the win.
Griffin Conine (Duke) went 3-for-5 with his third home run of the summer and three RBI. Michael Toglia (UCLA) went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Miles Lewis (Michigan) had two hits, one RBI and one run scored.
Falmouth got home runs from Marty Bechina (Michigan State) – his league-best seventh in 21 games – and George Janca (Texas A&M), but Cotuit kept the big bats quiet otherwise, and both the homers were solo shots.
Chatham 4, Orleans 2
The Firebirds win streak ends at 10. Chatham scored four runs in the fourth inning and made the burst stand up throughout in a victory at Veterans Field. Josh Shaw (St. John’s), Nick Patten (Delaware), Shea Langeliers (Baylor) and Fabian Pena (Manhattan) each drove in a run in the four-run frame, after a leadoff single by Josh Stowers (Louisville) started the rally. Chatham didn’t have a hit after the fourth inning as the Orleans bullpen cruised, but the Firebirds couldn’t get a comeback off the ground. Chatham starter Adam Hill (South Carolina) went four strong innings and reliever Cameron Bishop (UC Irvine) dominated. In his second appearance of the summer, Bishop struck out eight of the 11 batters he faced over three one-hit innings. Rodney Hutchison Jr. (North Carolina) pitched the final two innings for the save.
Wareham 13, Bourne 2
The Gatemen opened with a three-run first inning and didn’t stop there, pounding out 15 hits en route to an easy win. John Toppa (UConn) – the seventh hitter in the order – went 4-for-5 with four RBI and is now hitting .379, good for second in the league. Steven Kwan (Oregon State) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and is hitting .571 since his late arrival four games ago. Tanner Dodson (California) and Willie MacIver (Washington) had two RBI apiece. Remarkably, Wareham did all its damage without a single extra-base hit. Miller Hogan (St. Louis) made the early lead comfortable with five scoreless innings. He struck out six and allowed two hits and has now turned in back-to-back scoreless outings.
Y-D 3, Hyannis 1
The Red Sox snapped a three-game skid in which they were shut out each time. It took until the fifth to get any offense Wednesday, but Nico Hoerner (Stanford) broke through with a double and came around on a passed ball. Y-D added two runs in the sixth on an RBI fielder’s choice by Connor Kaiser (Vanderbilt) and a sacrifice fly by Alex McKenna (Cal Poly). Josh McMinn (Oral Roberts) went 5.1 shutout innings and Brendan Nail (Western Carolina) went the final 3.2 innings, allowing just an unearned run, for the save.
Brewster 7, Harwich 3
The Whitecaps scored six runs in the first three innings and completed a holiday sweep of the Mariners. All nine players in the lineup had at least one hit, led by A.J. Graffanino (Washington), Hunter Bishop (Arizona State) and Darius Hill (West Virginia) with two each. Hill had two RBI. J.R. McDermott (Colorado Mesa) allowed one earned run in five innings for the win. Four relievers finished the job, with three of them – William Tribucher (Michigan), Ryan Avidano (Georgia) and Sam Bordner (Louisville) tossing a hitless inning each.
What to Watch
After a long march through the holiday, teams get a well-deserved day off today. We’ll have power rankings up later today. And with teams hitting the halfway point of the season Friday, look for Right Field Fog’s midseason awards Saturday.