Falmouth’s win over Bourne Tuesday was a big one for manager Jeff Trundy – the 400th of his career – and it was a big one in the standings, too. Two days after a loss to Bourne sent the Braves into first place, the Commodores returned the favor and reclaimed the top spot in the West with the win.
Trundy joins select company with the milestone victory.
Congratulations to @FalCommodores manager Jeff Trundy on his 400th career win. He’s just the 4th Cape manager to accomplish the feat.
— League Statistician (@ccblstats) July 26, 2017
His latest team has often seemed poised for a few more victories than they’ve picked up, but they’ve now won four of their last five to take over first place.
Leadoff man Clayton Daniel (Jacksonville State) led the way Tuesday with a 4-for-5 night. He scored two runs and drove in another. Trevor Larnach (Oregon State) and Logan Davidson (Clemson) had two hits each, while Alec Bohm (Wichita State) knocked in a run to move into a tie for the league lead in RBI.
The Commodores picked up some pitching reinforcements in recent weeks and one of them did just what they hoped as Cody Shelton (Samford) went 4.1 scoreless innings for the win.
Bourne, which got a home run from Richard Palacios (Towson), is now one point behind Falmouth for first place.
Y-D 7, Chatham 2
I’d say Kris Bubic (Stanford) is having a pretty good summer. His latest start was perhaps his best as he struck out nine and allowed just an unearned run over five innings in a victory over Brewster. As you can see above, he now leads the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA. For Y-D, the win was its ninth in a row. Christian Koss (UC Irvine) went 3-for-4 with two RBI to lead the offense.
Orleans 8, Harwich 6
Trailing late, Orleans scored three runs in the seventh to tie the game and won it in the 11th on a walk-off two-run homer by Cesar Salazar (Arizona), as the Eldredge Park fans who stuck it out were treated to one of the most memorable moments in a season full of them. Despite Y-D’s streak, Orleans continues to hold serve and remains three points ahead of the Red Sox. Jimmy Herron (Duke) and Stephen Scott (Vanderbilt) also homered for the Firebirds, with Scott’s blast sparking the seventh-inning rally. Relievers J.T. Hintzen (Florida Southern), Cody Deason (Arizona) and Josh Hiatt (North Carolina) combined on five scoreless innings of relief to set the stage for the winning rally.
Brewster 9, Cotuit 0
Brewster snapped a five-game winless streak in emphatic fashion. Tony Locey (Georgia) went eight scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and striking out six. Matthew Beck (LSU) finished out the win. A.J. Graffanino (Washington) led the offensive attack with three RBI and Kyle Datres (North Carolina) had two. Michael Curry (Georgia) had two hits and scored two runs. The win moves the Whitecaps into a third-place tie with Chatham.
Hyannis 7, Wareham 4
The Harbor Hawks snapped a long losing streak Sunday and have now started a win streak. A run in the seventh and two in the eighth broke a 4-4 tie and sent Hyannis on its way. Tyler Frank (Florida International) had an RBI single in the seventh and Chris Proctor (Duke) drove in two with a base hit in the eighth to make the difference. Proctor finished with three RBI while Reece Hampton (Charlotte) added two for Hyannis. The last three pitchers out of the Hyannis bullpen didn’t allow a run, with Ryan Weiss (Wright State) picking up a win and Nick Sandlin (Southern Misssissippi) notching the save. Tristan Pompey (Kentucky) had two RBI for Wareham, which has lost three in a row.
What to Watch
Fresh off an impressive showing in the All-Star Game, Logan Gilbert (Stetson) gets the start for Orleans at Bourne. He hasn’t allowed an earned run since June 27.
When was the last time you saw a guy with a 4.30 ERA in the CCBL Pitching Leaders? The problem isn’t that ERAs are up — although maybe they are, slightly — it’s that everybody is on such strict innings limits that almost nobody has the 0.8 innings per team game that it takes to qualify for the ERA leaders.
It wasn’t that long ago when stud pitchers in the CCBL would pitch 50-60 innings over the course of a summer, and there were always a couple 9-inning complete games. This year I think somebody pitched a 7-inning complete game back in one of the doubleheaders, but other than that, it’s unusual to see a pitcher go more than five, and a lot of starters are coming out after two or three, even if they are pitching well.
I guess that’s just the way it is now and it’s unlikely to change.