The story of Friday’s game between Brewster and Wareham was Brewster starting pitcher Mason Black (Lehigh).
And then it wasn’t.
Black took a shutout into the seventh against the league’s best offense, one of the best pitching performances of the summer. But Brewster let that offense come back to life.
Wareham rallied for five runs in the seventh off Black and the Brewster bullpen then completed the comeback in the ninth for a 6-5 win.
Black struck out six and allowed three hits. His ERA is now at 1.71, good for third in the league. He also ranks second in strikeouts. He’s been terrific.
But Wareham’s rally denied Black what would have been his league-high fourth win.
Adrian Del Castillo (Miami) started the comeback push with a solo home run that broke up Black’s shutout. After a walk to Matt McClain (UCLA), Black departed. No other balls left the infield in the inning, but three walks, a wild pitch, an error and an infield hit by Darren Baker (Cal) allowed Wareham to tie the game.
In the ninth, Wareham won the game on three hits and an error, with Chad Stevens (Portland) scoring the winning run.
Stevens and Mike Antico (St. John’s) had two RBI each for the Gatemen. The home run by Del Castillo was his fourth. Mike Webb (Rhode Island College) earned the win in relief. Gage Workman (Arizona State) had two RBI to lead Brewster.
Y-D 1, Chatham 1
Tied atop the East Division, Y-D and Chatham played to a tie in Friday’s first-place battle. Y-D scored its lone run in the first inning on a Noah Campbell (South Carolina) sacrifice fly. Daniel Federman (Miami) didn’t allow anything else for Chatham, striking out six in seven strong innings. Dawson Merryman (Midland College) pitched two scoreless innings of relief. For Y-D, Ledgend Smith (Oklahoma) pitched 6.1 shutout innings, his second consecutive start without allowing a run. But Chatham rallied against the bullpen, with Kaden Polcovich (Northwest Florida) knocked in the tying run on a single.
Rainouts
After the rainy June, the league had a long stretch of nice weather before last night. Three other games were postponed, several of which had already started but didn’t get to five innings. The craziest of those was the Harwich-Cotuit game, in which Harwich led 12-0 (!) when the game was canceled, erasing that lead. In Falmouth, the rain erased the fifth home run for Falmouth’s Zach DeLoach, who remained red-hot.
What to Watch
Cape League strikeout leader Ian Seymour (Virginia Tech) takes the ball as Y-D visits Orleans.