There have been 10 shutouts in the Cape League so far this season.
Some teams have yet to log one. Most teams have put one together.
The Orleans Firebirds own three of the 10.
Number three went on the board Wednesday as Orleans topped Hyannis 4-0. Adam Seminaris (Long Beach State) started things with 3.2 innings of two-hit baseball. Connor Pellerin (Tulane) followed with 1.1 innings before dominant relief work by Andrew Abbott (Virginia), who struck out four and allowed one hit in three innings. Jeffrey Praml (Southern New Hampshire) finished it off with a quiet ninth.
Orleans now has a league-best 2.26 team ERA. Their .204 batting average against also ranks first, as does their 1.05 WHIP. The Firebirds are almost always one of the top pitching teams in the league, and it appears they’re on track for more of the same this season.
The Firebirds have been more middle-of-the-pack offensively so far this year, but they had plenty on Wednesday. Catcher David Avitia (Grand Canyon) – a star behind the plate who has struggled with the bat so far – picked up his first hit of the summer and drove in two runs. Max Troiani (Bentley) added two hits.
The win pushed Orleans over .500 at 4-3-1. Hyannis continues to struggle, falling to 0-7-1.
Brewster 4, Harwich 2
Break up the Whitecaps. Brewster won its sixth straight since an 0-3 start and continued to bolster the league’s best record. T.J. Collette (Kentucky) had a huge night, blasting two home runs and driving in three. He’s now tied for the league lead in homers with three and tops the circuit in RBI with nine. Colin Davis (Wofford) and Ciaran Devenney (UMass Lowell) drove in one run each. Mason Black (Lehigh) earned the win with a terrific relief performance. Eight of the 13 outs he recorded came via the strikeout. Carson Coleman (Kentucky) tallied his second save.
Wareham 6, Cotuit 0
The Gatemen won a battle for first place in the West with shutout of Cotuit. Joseph Baran (East Stroudsburg) started and went three scoreless frames. Brandon Pfaadt (Bellarmine) – whose school just announced it’s moving from D-II to D-I – delivered his second dominant relief outing of the summer. Pfaadt fanned six and allowed two hits in five innings of work. He now ranks fourth in the league in strikeouts. Ben Leeper (Oklahoma State) put the finishing touches on the shutout in the ninth. Darren Baker (California) led the offense with three more hits, bringing his league-best batting average to .400. Dallas Beaver (Central Florida) also had three hits, while Braiden Ward (Washington) drove in three runs, giving him at least one RBI in all four games he’s played.
** Falmouth/Bourne was postponed while Y-D/Chatham was fogged out after four innings.
What to Watch
Big pitching matchup in Orleans as the Firebirds put Cole Wilcox (Georgia) up against Trenton Denholm (UC Irvine). They will soon be teammates on Team USA.