Zack Hess (LSU) and Kyle Brnovich (Elon) were listed as the probable starters for Harwich in Sunday’s doubleheader against Falmouth.
Instead, they pitched in the same game and formed a pretty ridiculous one-two punch.
Hess was bursting onto the scene this time last year as one of the stories of the NCAA postseason, with his high-energy, high-velocity relief appearances helping lead the Tigers to Omaha. He pitched briefly for Bourne over the summer, striking out 10 batters in 10 innings. After some ups and downs in a move to the rotation this year, Hess – a draft-eligible sophomore – was rated 87th in Baseball America’s draft rankings, but slipped to the 34th round and has since made his way back to the Cape.
Brnovich led the nation in strikeouts in the regular season, fanning 147 in 105 innings and emerging as one of the top sophomore arms in the country. He had a 1.71 ERA and opponents hit just .156 against him. Baseball America tabbed him as a second-team All-American.
And those two guys shared the mound Sunday.
Hess went four innings and allowed one hit, striking out four. Brnovich went the last three innings – doubleheader games are seven innings – and allowed no hits, while also striking out four. The combined one-hit shutout lifted Falmouth to an 8-0 win. Hess earned the victory and Brnovich was credited with the save.
Hess’ LSU teammate Zach Watson went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBI to lead the offensive attack.
The performance by Hess and Brnovich was the most emphatic in a string of strong showings by Harwich pitching, which now leads the Cape League in team ERA. Saturday night, four pitchers combined to shut-out Wareham. And in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader, a staff effort led to a 5-1 win over Falmouth.
Tom Sutera (Siena) went 2.2 innings, Nick Rand (UMass Lowell) went 2.1 and Cal Krueger (Indiana) and Andrew Misiaszek (Northeastern) each tossed a scoreless inning to finish it off.
At the plate, Watson had another big day, going 2-for-3 with two RBI. Danny Casals (Maine) added three RBI.
Harwich improved to 4-3 on the season.
Chatham 7, Bourne 2; Chatham 4, Bourne 1
The Anglers won their second and third games in a row to take over first place in the East Division. Spencer Torkelson (Arizona State) hit his third home run, while going 2-for-2 with three RBI in the opener. Branden Fryman (Samford) chipped in two hits and two runs scored. Jack Conlon (Texas A&M) allowed two runs in four innings for the win. In game two, Blake Sabol (Southern California) homered and drove in two runs, while Greg Jones (UNC Wilmington) had two hits and a run scored. Alek Manoah (West Virginia) struck out eight and allowed a run on two hits in five innings for the win. Manoah had struck out three when he started the season opener and now leads the league in strikeouts with 11.
Cotuit 5, Y-D 4; Cotuit 11, Y-D 3
Zachary Biermann (Coastal Carolina) hit a walk-off single in game one before the Kettleers quickly took the drama out of game two to finish off the sweep. Biermann’s base hit came after a pair of walks to start the inning. Y-D got the next two outs, and Biermann was down in the count 0-2, but he came through to win it for Cotuit. Biermann finished with two RBI. Garrett Gayle earned the win in relief. In game two, the Kettleers rallied from a 3-2 deficit with a six-run fifth inning and cruised from there. Biermann again delivered two RBI, as did Beau Brundage (Portland) and Adam Oviedo (TCU). Rey Pastrana (Marshall) went 2-for-4 with three RBI, and Jonathan Robertson (Creighton) had three hits. Ryan Lefner (St. Louis) went the final 2.2 innings and didn’t allow a run.
Hyannis 4, Brewster 3; Hyannis 6, Brewster 5
The Harbor Hawks won a pair of one-run thrillers for a doubleheader sweep of the defending champs. Eric Rivera (Florida Atlantic) hit a walk-off RBI single in the eighth to win the opener, part of a two-hit, two-RBI day. Hyannis had trailed 3-0 before tying the game in the sixth on RBI by Rivera, Matthew Barefoot (Campbell) and Trevor Hauver (Arizona State). In the second game, the Harbor Hawks built a 6-2 lead then held off a final-inning push by the Whitecaps. Brandon Wulff (Stanford) hit a two-run double to make it 6-5, but he was thrown out trying to stretch it to a triple. Brett Schulze (Minnesota) came out of the bullpen to record the final out.
Wareham 4, Orleans 3; Orleans 10, Wareham
In the only doubleheader split of the day, Wareham rallied for a game-one win before Orleans blasted its way to a victory in game two. The Gatemen trailed 4-1 in the final inning of the opener, but Austin Shenton (Florida International) hit a walk-off three-run homer to give the Gatemen the victory. Shenton finished 2-for-3 with the three RBI. The heroics made a winner out of Thomas Miller (Siena), who logged a scoreless inning of relief. In game two, the Firebirds built enough of a lead to short-circuit any late magic by the Gatemen. Logan Wyatt (Louisville) went 3-for-4 with a home run, two doubles and three RBI to lead a 16-hit onslaught. Pat DeMarco (Vanderbilt) also had three hits, while Brandon White (West Virginia) and Ricky Martinez (Tennessee) scored three runs each. Josh Hendrickson (San Diego) got the win with four solid innings. For Wareham, Andrew Vaughn (California) hit his third home run.
What to Watch
Just a make-up game on the schedule today as Cotuit hosts Bourne. John Baker, who’s coming off a good spring at Ball State and who struck out eight in five scoreless innings in his first start for Cotuit, will get the ball again for the Kettleers.