On a night when baseballs were flying out of ballparks up and down the Cape, two Orleans pitchers didn’t allow any home runs – or triples, doubles, or singles, for that matter.
Mitchell Senger (Stetson) and Aaron Ochsenbein (Eastern Kentucky) combined on a no-hitter as the Firebirds beat Brewster 3-2.
It’s the second combined no-hitter of the CCBL season and the first in a nine-inning game. The other, by Harwich, was a seven-inning game in a doubleheader.
Senger was making his second start for the Firebirds since arriving from Team USA trials. The 6-foot-6 lefthander is following in the footsteps of several of his Stetson teammates. Brooks Wilson played for Orleans in 2016 and 2017, and Logan Gilbert was one of the league’s top pitchers with the Firebirds last summer.
Senger had a big hand in Stetson’s Super Regional run this spring, emerging as a dynamic weekend rotation member a year after an up-and-down freshman campaign. He had a 2.51 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 93.1 innings.
Six days after allowing two runs in five innings in his Cape debut, Senger was dominant against the Whitecaps. He retired the first 21 batters he faced, losing the perfect game when he hit the leadoff batter in the eighth with a pitch. A walk, a wild pitch and a couple of groundouts eventually brought two runs home, but Senger escaped with the lead and a no-hitter still intact.
Ochsenbein, who’s been a dominant reliever outside of one bad outing last week, was back on target in picking up the torch from Senger. He struck out the first two batters in the ninth, walked the third, then struck out the fourth to finish it off.
Spencer Steer (Oregon) and Nick Osborne (Tennessee Tech) backed the pitching duo with home runs to lead the Orleans offense.
Falmouth 8, Cotuit 1
Austin Langworthy (Florida) homered for the fifth time in five days and the Commodores blasted Cotuit to move one game over .500. Langworthy hit his first home run of the summer July 11 and has been on a ridiculous heater since. He homered again July 13, hit two on Saturday and tacked on another Sunday, belting a solo shot in the sixth. Kyle Stowers (Stanford) also homered for the Commodores and drove in three. Davis Sims (Murray State), Logan Davidson (Clemson) and Maverick Handley (Stanford) also knocked in runs. Adam Laskey (Duke) went six shutout innings for the win, allowing one hit and lowering his ERA to 0.89 across four appearances. A.J. Block (Washington State) notched a three-inning save to close out the win.
Y-D 5, Chatham 3
A battle of the top two teams in the East included a third foe as fog forced the game to be called after eight innings, with Y-D prevailing and stopping Chatham’s three-game winning streak. Andrew Daschbach (Stanford), Nicholas Quintana (Arizona) and Christian Koss (UC Irvine) homered for the Red Sox, while Adam Kerner (San Diego) had two hits and an RBI. Jensen Elliott (Oklahoma State) allowed three runs in five innings and earned the win. For Chatham, Blake Sabol (USC) homered for the third consecutive game, giving him a league-best seven on the season.
Wareham 7, Harwich 6
Wareham trailed 6-2 in the bottom of the ninth but scored four runs to tie the game, then won it in extra innings. A three-run double by Luke Roskam (Nebraska) highlighted the ninth-inning surge. Isaac Collins (Creighton) singled to lead off the 10th and eventually came around with the winning run on a wild pitch. The rally made a winner out of Pavin Parks (Kent State), the seventh pitcher of the day for Wareham. Collins finished with two hits, as did Austin Shenton (Florida International), who moved his league-high batting average back to .400. Tanner Morris (Virginia) homered for Harwich.
Hyannis 4, Bourne 3
League strikeout leader Jeremy Randolph (Wright State) had another solid start and the Hyannis offense had a little more Bourne for a West Division win. Randolph allowed one run in 5.1 innings and now has 36 strikeouts in 26 innings pitched. Bourne made some headway against the Hyannis bullpen, until Dylan Thomas (Hawaii) came on for a two-plus inning save, his seventh. Trevor Hauver (Arizona State) had two RBI and Brady Lindsly (Oklahoma) had one to lead the Hyannis offense.
What to Watch
Teams will head to Boston today for their annual Fenway Park workout in front of scouts.