RIGHT FIELD FOG

One of the biggest differences between a college season and a Cape League season is the amount of pitching depth on the Cape. Players always talk about how much tougher it is when you’re facing a Friday starter on a lot more nights than Friday.

The depth extends to the bullpen, where every year, dozens of players put up crazy numbers.

This year is no exception, and last night was a shining example.

The five teams that won all got outstanding relief performances, with four of their bullpens not giving up a single run after starters left the game. The only exception was Brewster, whose pen allowed one run. No starter went beyond the seventh inning, but on this night, they didn’t really need to.

Here’s the combined line for the five bullpens: 12 pitchers, 15 innings, 11 hits, 1 run and 20 strikeouts.

In terms of individuals, the star of the night was Hyannis’ Dallas Gallant (Sam Houston State), who turned in perhaps the best extended relief performance of the summer. After Austin Hudson (Central Florida) left after six shutout innings with Hyannis leading 3-0, Gallant came in and emphatically shut the door. In three shutout innings, he struck out eight and allowed two hits. So yeah, that means all but one of the outs he recorded came via the strikeout. Gallant now has 26 strikeouts, which ranks him fourth in the league. Everyone else on the leader board is a starter. Gallant has pitched 16 innings. The next-lowest total on the top-five list? Eric Cantrell’s 20.

As for a standout team effort from last night, I’d highlight both Wareham and Bourne. For the Gatemen, starter Eric Pfisterer (Duke) allowed three hits to Chatham in the first inning and not another in the rest of his 6.2 innings. Keith Bilodeau (Maine) and David Fischer (Connecticut) kept up their end of the bargain, combining for 2.1 hitless innings. Fischer struck out the side in the ninth as Wareham won 5-1.

In Bourne, four relievers each turned in a scoreless inning — Alex Wimmers (Ohio State), Justin Poovey (Florida), Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) and Kevin Munson (James Madison). Munson picked up the save, his first of the season. Harrold has five saves to lead the Braves.

Elsewhere

We’ll start with a little more detail on the aforementioned games. The Hyannis offense backed Hudson and Gallant with three early runs in the 3-0 victory over Orleans. Cody Hawn (Tennessee), Trent Whitehead (East Carolina) and Jackie Bradley, Jr. (South Carolina) all drove in runs. Dan Burkhart (Ohio State), the Big 10 Player of the Year who hasn’t yet heated up this summer, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Bradley, a freshman All-American, has also been struggling, but had a double in this one. That’s his first extra-base hit of the summer. For Orleans, Gary Brown (Cal State Fullerton) continued his strong start with a 2-for-4 day, and Danny Muno (Fresno State) also had two hits.

Bourne also got things going early, posting three runs in the first two innings on the way to a 3-1 victory over Falmouth. Kyle Roller (East Carolina), Rob Segedin (Tulane) and Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) each had two hits, with Schwaner driving in two. Bourne starter Seth Maness (East Carolina) allowed just an unearned run in five innings. Falmouth’s Tommy Collier (San Jacinto), one of the top starters in the league so far, surrendered three runs in five innings.

Chatham got a run off Pfisterer in that first inning but nothing else. With the stage more than set, Wareham rallied for the victory on the strength of a four-run second inning. Three of the four runs that scored in that inning were unearned. Zach Wilson (Arizona State) went 2-for-4 to up his average to .361. Ryan LaMarre (Michigan) went 1-for-2 with an RBI. The win was Wareham’s third straight. The Gatemen sit three points back of first-place Bourne, and they should get a boost soon. Texas pitchers Cole Green and Brandon Workman are in town.

Brewster topped Y-D 5-1 for its fourth straight win. The Whitecaps are now back to .500 at 8-8-3, and they’re just five points out of first place. Sean Hoelscher (TCU) picked up the win for Brewster with 6.1 shutout innings. David Goforth (Ole Miss) picked up his third save after coming in with two runners on base in the eighth, getting out of that jam and working a scoreless ninth. Brewster’s offense was led by recent arrival Tant Shepherd (Texas), who went 1-for-3 with two RBI.

Harwich starter Aaron Meade (Missouri State) allowed two runs and walked five, but he also struck out eight in five innings and ended up with the win as the Mariners topped Cotuit 5-2. For the Kettleers, Jake Buchanan (Nebraska) allowed his first earned run of the season, but it was three unearned runs that did the Kettleers in. Connor Powers (Mississippi State) went 2-for-4 with two RBI and Dan Grovatt (Virginia) also added two hits. Grovatt now has the requisite number of plate appearances to qualify for the average lead, and his .390 mark puts him in the top spot. Zack Cox (Arkansas), who drew high praise on Greg Schimmel’s blog, went 3-for-4 with two RBI and is now hitting .389 for the Kettleers, who have dropped three in a row.

What to Watch For Tonight

Actually, watch for it today, as Wareham and Falmouth meet on Martha’s Vineyard at 1 p.m. Matt Barnes (Connecticut) is scheduled to go for Wareham against Taylor Wall (Rice). It looks like both teams will be broadcasting the game.

When the day began, Wareham was under .500 and sitting in third place in the West, seven points behind first-place Bourne.

Amazing what a doubleheader sweep can do.

The Gatemen beat Hyannis 4-0 and 4-3 last night to move over .500 at 9-8-1 and jump into second place, just three points behind the Braves, who lost for the first time in six games. Before Monday, the Braves had beaten Wareham on consecutive nights.

But the Gatemen bounced back in a big way. Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt) pitched a complete game shutout in the opener, striking out six and surrendering two hits in the seven-inning game. Armstrong now leads the league with three wins. He has won each of his starts.

Armstrong was backed by a strong offensive effort. Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech) tripled in the first and Zach Wilson (Arizona State) homered, staking Wareham to an early lead. Wilson has been very strong since arriving from the College World Series. In nine games, he’s hitting .344 with six extra-base hits.

The Gatemen got a seventh-inning home run by Cole Leonida (Georgia Tech) and an RBI single from Dietrich to add to their lead.

The second game was a little more dramatic. After Wareham built a 3-0 lead, Hyannis fought back to tie the game, forcing extra innings. But it didn’t take long for Wareham to respond. In the top of the eighth, Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge) singled in George Springer (Connecticut) with the go-ahead run.

The Mets put a major threat together in the bottom of the inning when they loaded the bases, but Dean Kiekhefer (Louisville) came in and struck out the side to end the game. That’s as impressive a save as you’ll see all season. Wareham has three players with one save each, so they may be looking for a closer to emerge. Kiekhefer has certainly thrown his name into the hat.

Elsewhere

The Harwich Mariners, who shut out three straight opponents last week, haven’t shut out anybody lately and have, in fact, lost three straight. Last night, it was Chatham beating the Mariners 4-3. That’s the second straight win for the Anglers, who continue to cling to first place. Dean Green (Oklahoma State) and Whit Merrifield (South Carolina) each hit home runs to pace the Anglers. Mike Dennhardt (Boston College) picked up his second win of the year, with Taylor Hill (Vanderbilt) getting the save. Highly-touted freshman Rick Oropesa (USC) made his first appearance for Chatham and hit a triple.

Bourne’s five-game winning streak ended with a thud as Orleans posted a 9-3 victory last night. Jimmy Reyes (Elon) went seven strong innings for his second win of the year. Leadoff man Gary Brown (Cal State Fullerton) had two hits and scored four runs. The Firebirds moved to 10-8 with the win, and they’re just four points out of first place.

Brewster won its third straight game behind a dominant start from Kyle Blair (San Diego). Blair struck out 10 and allowed one run in eight innings en route to his first win in four starts this summer. His ERA is now sitting at 1.33, and he’s quickly becoming one of the top-performing pitchers in the league, in addition to his status as a top prospect. Brewster broke open a 1-1 game with a big seventh inning. That’s the second time in as many games that they’ve gotten a late rally.

Falmouth had some offense again, but Y-D had a little more. A day after scoring a league-high 14 runs, the Commodores put up six last night thanks in large part to two-run homers by Ryan Jones (Wichita State) and Brian Fletcher (Auburn). But Y-D kept pace and broke through for four runs in the seventh to take the lead. They held on for a 7-6 victory. Jordan Casas (Long Beach State) and Tyler Hanover (LSU) each doubled home runs to cap off the uprising. Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) picked up his league-leading sixth save. He has still given up just one hit all summer.

What to Watch For Tonight

Chatham will head to Falmouth for a pitching-rich doubleheader that’s set to begin at 4:30 p.m. In game one, Shawn Tolleson (Baylor), who has struggled since a dominant first start, will go for Chatham against Falmouth’s Tommy Collier (San Jacinto), who’s fourth in the league in ERA. In the nightcap, it’ll be a pair of good freshman, with Logan Verrett (Baylor) going for Chatham and Taylor Wall (Rice) getting the ball for Falmouth. This will be Verrett’s firs start, though he has had one very strong extended relief appearance. Wall has a 0.82 ERA in two starts.

I don’t want to jinx it or anything, but we have had sun in New England on four consecutive days, which I’m pretty sure is some kind of record. Along similar lines, the league has gotten a full slate of games in for four consecutive days, which had not happened since June 13-16, the first week of the season.

So yeah, it’s been kind of a weird summer. The weather pattern looks like it has finally changed though, at least enough to break us out of the clouds-every-day thing we had going for a while.

It’s a good thing, too. The Cape League is about to get into the thick of its schedule.

If you break the summer down into stages, I feel like it’s the three weeks leading up to the all-star game that really define the season. Most all the players who are going to be here are here. Players who got off to big starts are either fading or officially delivering big summers. Top prospects are emerging.

Right now, it’s tough to get a feel for all that, but we’ll get there soon enough. Over the next 15 days before the all-star game on July 23, the league will stage 73 games, pretty much a full slate every night. Several teams will play 14 games over those 15 days, making this the most intensive stretch of the season.

So this is going to be fun. Let’s enjoy it.

And pray for sun.

Some quick notes . . .

Just as several of us guessed, LSU star pitcher Anthony Ranaudo will be taking the summer off. Randy Rosetta of the Baton Rouge Advocate wrote on Saturday about Ranaudo’s plans. Ticketed for either Team USA or Y-D, Ranaudo will rest his arm after throwing 124.1 innings this spring. As Ranaudo correctly notes in that story, “if scouts want to come see what I can do, they can come next year.” Indeed. It’s a shame we won’t see him, but the kid has nothing left to prove this year.

Bourne teammates Kyle Roller and Stefen Romero might be the early favorites for MVP. Roller is hitting .345 with three home runs and 11 RBI. Romero is at .354 with four home runs and 12 RBI. Pretty good for two guys who were not on Bourne’s original roster.

At some point, Jedd Gyorko might put himself in that conversation, too. Since arriving from Team USA trials, Gyorko has posted 11 hits in seven games, with two home runs and eight RBI.

Another recent addition to the Brewster lineup is off to a good start. Virginia’s Jarrett Parker has three hits in three games, all of them of the extra-base variety.

A few more names to keep an eye on at this point, among many others: Hyannis’ Cody Hawn and Ryan Cuneo, Y-D’s Austin Wates, Nick Crawford and Mickey Wiswall, Falmouth’s Todd Cunningham, Cotuit’s Cody Stanley, Harwich’s Dan Grovatt and Orleans’ Jaren Matthews.

Over the next few weeks, it looks like we’ll be seeing more and more of two of the bigger pitching names in the sophomore class. Ohio State’s Alex Wimmers is in Bourne and made a relief appearance last night. Texas’ Brandon Workman is scheduled to arrive in Wareham on Wednesday.

Chatham’s Matt Harvey (North Carolina) has apparently seen his stock slip lately, but his performance Saturday was on the mark. The righty struck out six and didn’t walk anybody in six shutout innings.

On a night when there was once again a ton of offense around the league, Chatham and Orleans again played a 1-0 game.

Saturday, it was Orleans winning it in the 10th.

This time, Chatham came out on top, and it only took nine.

The Anglers got their 1-0 lead in the sixth when Whit Merrifield (South Carolina) singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly by Parker Bangs (South Carolina). For a team that had been shut out two games in a row, that’s exactly the kind of manufacturing you have to do.

It wasn’t much offense, but it was enough for a trio of Chatham pitchers. Tyler Lyons (Oklahoma State) only struck one but also surrendered just two hits in seven shutout innings. The Vanderbilt duo of Taylor Hill and Russell Brewer each pitched a scoreless inning to help seal the win. Brewer picked up his third save.

For Chatham, the victory was much-needed. The Anglers had lost six of seven, including two to Orleans. By virtue of Sunday’s win, the Anglers stayed in a tie with Y-D for first place in the East. Orleans, at 9-8, is two games back.

Elsewhere

As for that offense, Falmouth took care of a lot of it. The Commodores scored 14 runs — the highest total in the league this year — then held on for a 14-9 victory over Cotuit. The Kettleers sent Justin Grimm (Georgia) and his sub-1.00 ERA to the hill but he hit trouble early. Falmouth scored two in the second and three in the fourth to chase Grimm. They scored four more in the sixth against the Cotuit bullpen. Hunter Morris (Auburn) hit his first home run of the year for the Commodores, while Brian Fletcher (Auburn) and Josh Adams (Florida) each had three hits. Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and four runs scored. Coming into the game, Falmouth had lost six of seven, including one to Cotuit on Saturday, so this was a big turnaround. For Cotuit, Zack Cox (Arkansas) went 3-for-5 with two RBI and Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington) hit a home run.

For the second straight day, a Hyannis vs. Y-D game featured a two-home run performance by a player on the winning team. This time, it was Micah Gibbs (LSU) belting two and Y-D posting a 9-8 victory. The Red Sox led 8-4 before Ryan Cuneo (Delaware) hit a grand slam in the eighth to tie the game. But Y-D answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single by Jonathan Jones (Long Beach State). Tyler Burgoon (Michigan), who got Y-D out of the eighth after the grand slam, pitched a scoreless ninth to pick up the win. Burgoon still hasn’t allowed an earned run this year, and he has give up just one hit.

Bourne topped Wareham for the second straight night, winning 8-5 and stretching the win streak to five. Raynor Campbell (Baylor) had a three-run triple to lead the Braves, who also got a home run from Kyle Roller (East Carolina). Bourne is now 10-5-2 and two games ahead of Cotuit for first place in the West. Wareham got a home run from Shea Vucinich (Washington State) but couldn’t mount a comeback. For Bourne, Alex Wimmers (Ohio State) made his first appearance of the summer since arriving from Team USA trials. He pitched two innings out of the bullpen, striking out four and allowing one run on one hit.

Brewster trailed 3-2 in the eighth before Lyle Allen (Georgia) — who went 4-for-4 the night before — hit a pinch-hit two-run homer to make it 4-3. An RBI triple by Jarrett Parker (Virginia) made it 5-3, and Brewster held on to win by that margin. The Whitecaps have won two in a row and are right behind Harwich in the standings.

What to Watch For Tonight

Tanner Robles (Oregon State) will make his second start for Bourne as the Braves try to make it six in a row against Orleans. They’ll go against Jimmy Reyes (Elon), who has a 1.56 ERA in three starts.

In thinking back on the season so far, I’m pretty sure I haven’t written much of anything yet about offense. That’s par for the course in the early going, and with more dominant pitching performances than usual, it’s tough to focus on anything else.

But the offense is starting to have its say. Some big hitters have arrived and some others who have been on the Cape from the beginning have caught up.

Yesterday, on the Fourth of July, they sent off some fireworks.

Yes, there was a pitchers’ duel in Chatham, but in all the other games, offense reigned. In total, teams combined for 78 hits, 27 extra-base hits and five home runs. Though no teams reached double digits in runs, three of them got to double digits in hits.

The coordinators of the fireworks shows: Cody Hawn, the Bourne Braves and the Brewster Whitecaps.

Hawn (Tennessee), who missed several games earlier this week, is back in the lineup and crushing the ball. He went 2-for-3 last night against Y-D with two home runs. I believe that’s the first two-home run game of the summer. Hawn is now hitting .346 and is tied for the league lead with four home runs. His blasts yesterday helped power Hyannis to a 6-4 victory. Hawn’s teammate Nick Crawford (UAB) went 2-for-4 to up his league-best average to .400. For Y-D, Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) went 4-for-5 with two doubles.

In Bourne, the Braves didn’t hit a home run, but made up for it with six doubles in a 9-1 win over Wareham. Ben Klafczynski (Kent State) went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI, and Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI. Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Stefen Romero (Oregon State) also hit doubles. Robert Morey (Virginia) picked up the win for the Braves with five strong innings. Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) worked out of the pen for the first time, picking up three strikeouts in two innings.

Finally, in Brewster, the Whitecaps took Harwich’s streak of three straight shutouts and turned it on its head. The Whitecaps pounded 14 hits en route to a 7-4 victory. Lyle Allen (Georgia) went 4-for-4 to lead the way, and Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) hit his second home run in six games. John Barr (Virginia) and Daniel Butler (Arizona) had two hits apiece. The Whitecaps did most of their damage against Rob Gariano (Fairfield), who had been lights out so far. They touched him up for five runs in one-plus inning of work. Scott Alexander (Pepperdine) got the win for Brewster.

Elsewhere

There was a little offense — but more pitching — in Falmouth, where Cotuit came to town and topped the Commodores 5-1 behind a dominant performance by Seth Blair (Arizona State). Making his first start of the summer since arriving from the College World Series, the ’08 Cape League all-star turned in the first nine-inning complete game in the league this year. He struck out six, didn’t walk anybody and allowed a run on five hits. He was backed by a home run from Kevin Patterson (Auburn) and two RBI from Chris Bisson (Kentucky).

As for that pitcher’s duel in Chatham, Orleans came away with a 1-0 victory in 10 innings. Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) doubled and Ross Heffley (Western Carolina) brought him in with a base hit in the 10th. The starting pitchers were the stars of the night, with Orleans’ Rob Rasmussen (UCLA) allowing three hits in seven shutout innings and Chatham’s Matt Harvey (North Carolina) giving up three hits in six shutout innings. Jesse Hahn (Virginia Tech) also shined, striking out five in three innings of relief for Chatham.

What to Watch For Tonight

Bourne has surged into first place in the West, and the Braves will try to stay there as they visit third-place Wareham. Eric Cantrell (George Washington) and his 24:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio goes for the Braves against Wareham’s Blake Monar (Indiana), who has a 2.81 ERA in three starts.

Before their game on June 29, the Harwich Mariners had a team ERA of 3.33.

It’s gone down a bit.

In the three games since, the Mariners haven’t allowed a run. Yes, that’s three consecutive shutouts. They beat Chatham 6-0 last night after 1-0 wins on Monday and Tuesday. That team ERA? Down to 2.54. For a team that at one point had been shut-out three times in four games, this is a nice little trend.

It’s also one of the more impressive feats of the summer, made better by how it started. On June 29, the Mariners didn’t just shut out the Y-D Red Sox, they shut them out for 13 innings. Three pitchers combined to allow just four hits.

I don’t know if that inspired the Harwich pitching staff or what, but something has clicked. With last night’s game tacked on, the Mariners have a scoreless streak of 31 innings. It stretches back even further if you add on the three scoreless innings at the end of Sunday’s win over Bourne.

And everybody is in on it. This isn’t like a Major League Baseball playoff series involving a team with a good bullpen getting to the sixth and turning out the lights. Ten different pitchers have seen action during the streak.

The starters have of course had their say. Aaron Meade (Missouri State) delivered the best performance, striking out 12 in seven shutout innings on Tuesday. Against Y-D, Mike Gipson (Florida Atlantic) allowed two hits in seven shutout innings of his own. Brett Bruening (Grayson CC) got the start last night and went 3.1 innings.

The bullpen performances have been perhaps more impressive. In that first game, Geoff Parker (Florida State) struck out five and didn’t allow a hit in three innings. Matthew Price (Virginia Tech) finished it off by surrendering just two hits in three innings.

In relief of Meade on Tuesday, Les Williams (Northeastern) and Glen Troyanowski (Florida Atlantic) worked two scoreless frames, and last night, four pitchers combined to hold Chatham without a hit over the final 5.2 innings. Chase Reid (Vanderbilt) struck out five in 2.2 innings, while Garrett Davis (North Carolina), Brian Dupra (Notre Dame) and Troyanowski finished it off.

All in all, that’s 10 pitchers allowing no runs on 14 hits in 31 innings.

Crazy.

And on top of all that, the Mariners also had a little offense last night, getting two RBI from Connor Powers (Mississippi State), Dan Grovatt (Virginia) and Marcus Niddifer (Kentucky).

Elsewhere

The other team that’s caught fire of late is Bourne, and the Braves matched Harwich with a shutout of their own last night. Behind 5.1 strong innings from Turner Phelps (James Madison) and 3.2 no-hit innings of relief, the Braves beat Chris Sale and Y-D 1-0. A fourth-inning home run by Stefen Romero (Oregon State) — his league-best fourth of the season — accounted for all the offense. The Braves have won three in a row and sit in first place in the West. Sale suffered his first loss for Y-D. Micah Gibbs (LSU) made his first appearance of the summer.

Orleans blew a 7-0 lead, but came back to pick up an 8-7 victory over Brewster. The winning run scored in the bottom of the ninth when Jeremy Gould (Duke) got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Matt Packer (Virginia) picked up the win for Orleans with three scoreless innings. Gould hit a home run and Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) went 2-for-4 with three RBI. For Brewster, second-team All-American Jarrett Parker (Virginia) made his first appearance of the summer and went 1-for-3 with a triple and three RBI.

Josh Mueller (Eastern Illinois) struck out eight in five innings and Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech) hit a three-run homer as Wareham topped Falmouth 6-4. The Commodores made two errors but they were big ones — all of Wareham’s runs were unearned.

Hyannis and Cotuit played to a 3-3 tie. The Kettleers led 3-0 into the sixth before Hyannis put up three runs to tie it. A two-run single by Ryan Cuneo (Delaware) was the big blow. For Cotuit, Chris Bisson (Kentucky) had three hits and two stolen bases.

What to Watch For Tonight

Harwich will try to keep its streak going with a game at Brewster. Rob Gariano (Fairfield) and his 0.79 ERA will be on the hill.

When the Cape League announced schedule changes this season, one of the big things was “The Only Game In Town” concept.

This is not what they meant.

Originally, nine of the 10 teams had a date on which their game was the only one scheduled. Because of all the postponements, there is only one of these dates left — Aug. 3 when Chatham visits Orleans — but even that one could be in jeopardy if the rain continues.

Maybe Mother Nature felt bad for ruining things, though she’s not very good at making up for it. Y-D and Wareham ended up with the only game in town last night, as the other four games got postponed. I believe that gives us 33 postponements for the summer. It’s the fifth time that at least four games have been rained out. It sounds like Cotuit had its field ready to go, but Orleans didn’t have a bus to get there. When it rains, it pours, or something like that.

As for the on-field action, Y-D topped Wareham 4-1 for its sixth win in seven games. The Red Sox now have 10 wins, tied with Chatham for most in the league. Wareham dropped to 6-6-1.

Three pitchers combined to absolutely shut down the Gatemen, who had scored 18 runs in their last three games. Michael Goodnight (Houston) got the start and allowed just one unearned run on one hit in 4.1 innings. Drew Hayes (Vanderbilt) went 1.1 hitless innings, and Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State) finished it off with 3.1 hitless innings. He struck out four.

Eric Pfisterer (Duke) made the start for Wareham and was solid in four innings of work, allowing one run on three hits. But Y-D broke through against the Wareham bullpen with three in the seventh. Blake Kelso (Houston) led off the inning with a double, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) and Josh Rutledge (Alabama) added RBI singles.

Y-D finished with 10 hits, getting at least one from all but one spot in the lineup. Rutledge and Ben McMahan (Florida) each had two hits and an RBI. Zach Wilson (Arizona State) had Wareham’s only hit, an RBI double in the fourth.

What to Watch For Tonight

The chance for rain is supposedly smaller tonight and there might be some sun today to dry out the fields so we can hope. And the weekend does look nice. For tonight, Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) will make his fourth start as he tries to keep the Red Sox rolling in a home game against Bourne.

Chatham and Harwich both picked up narrow victories last night, with Chatham winning 2-0 and Harwich winning 1-0.

One team got a little help.

The other didn’t need much.

Chatham’s game went just five innings, but it was official and Chatham was leading, so when the fog rolled in, the Anglers had themselves a 1-0 victory. North Carolina’s Patrick Johnson also had himself a five-inning no-hitter.

Over in Brewster, Harwich played the full nine and Aaron Meade (Missouri State) took care of most of them. He struck out 12, walked one and allowed only four hits in seven shutout innings.

The victories were part of a 4-1 night for East teams, who won all their crossover match-ups with the West.

For Chatham, last night’s game marked their second shortened game in a row. But in contrast to Monday, when the Anglers lost a slugfest that was called due to darkness, this one had a much better ending. Johnson, who had 77 strikeouts in 56.2 innings this spring, ended up striking out only two and walking four. But Falmouth couldn’t muster a hit.

Chatham couldn’t get much either against Falmouth’s Taylor Wall (Rice), but managed to find a little offense in the third. Addison Johnson (Clemson) scored on an error, and Steven Brooks (Wake Forest) knocked in Whit Merrifield (South Carolina) with a base hit.

The Anglers moved to 10-5 with the win, still tops in the league.

As for Harwich, the Mariners got back to .500 at 7-7 thanks to Meade’s big performance. A draft-eligible sophomore who went in the 28th round this year, Meade had a very strong season for Missouri State, going 9-2 with a 3.39 ERA and 89 strikeouts in 90.1 innings.

In his first two starts on the Cape, he was good but not great, allowing four earned runs in nine innings and striking out seven. But last night he took things to a new level, holding down a Brewster team that had only been shut out once this year. Meade faced only three batters over the minimum in his seven innings and the 12 strikeouts put him in a tie with Eric Cantrell for the second-most in a single outing this season.

In the end, Harwich actually had fewer hits then Brewster but managed to push a run across against Matt Lujan (San Francisco), who tossed a gem of his own. He only allowed three hits in seven innings, but a fifth-inning single by Anthony Sosnoskie (Virginia Tech) was a big one. It knocked in David Herbek (James Madison) with what proved to be the winning run. Glen Troyanowski (Florida Atlantic) picked up the save for Harwich.

Elsewhere

The pitching was pretty good in Orleans, too, where Firebirds starter Cole Cook (Pepperdine) allowed just one run in eight innings as Orleans topped Wareham 4-2. Cook only struck out one, but he also only allowed three hits. He had enough support for the win as Gary Brown (Cal State Fullerton), Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) and Riccio Torrez (Arizona State) all drove in runs.

Bourne broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning and held on to a slim one-run lead the rest of the way in a 3-2 victory over Hyannis. The go-ahead run came home on an RBI single by Taylor Hightower (Ole Miss) that plated Raynor Campbell (Baylor), who had doubled. Logan Billbrough (William & Mary) picked up the win for Bourne with 2.1 shutout innings of relief.

In the only game on the slate that saw a team score more than four runs, Y-D beat Cotuit 7-3. The Red Sox pounded out a season-high 13 hits, with six players getting at least two. Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) hit a home run, doubled and drove in two, while Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) also had two hits and two RBI. Jonathan Jones (Long Beach State) had three hits. The offense was more than enough for Mario Hollands (UC Santa Barbara), who allowed two runs in 6.2 innings while making his first Y-D start. Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) picked up his league-leading fifth save.

What to Watch For Tonight

Brandon Cumpton (Georgia Tech), who has a 0.75 ERA in two starts will try to halt Cotuit’s two-game skid as he leads the Kettleers into a match-up with Y-D. Michael Goodnight (Houston) and his 0.79 ERA will start for the Red Sox.

Both Harwich and Y-D played 14 innings of baseball on Sunday in the first doubleheaders of the summer.

They almost did it again Monday night.

After Harwich split its twin bill with Bourne on Sunday and Y-D swept past Falmouth, the teams played the longest game of the season on Monday in Harwich. They went 13 innings, and no one scored for 12-and-a-half of them. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th, the Mariners pushed the game-winning run across on an RBI single by Phil Gosselin (Virginia). In addition to being the longest game, it was also, amazingly, the first 1-0 game of the season.

Getting that one proved to be extremely difficult. Seven pitchers took their turn on the mound, and none of them surrendered much. Even the only run was unearned. Y-D starter Greg Peavey (Oregon State) struck out six and allowed five hits in eight shutout innings, and his might not have even been the best performance. His Harwich counterpart, Mike Gipson (Florida Atlantic), allowed just two hits in seven scoreless frames.

When the game went to the bullpens, it was more of the same. Seth Simmons (East Carolina) and Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State) each went two scoreless innings for Y-D, with Rhoderick striking out five. For Harwich, Geoff Parker (Florida State) and Matthew Price (Virginia Tech) went three innings each. Parker, making his first appearance, didn’t allow a hit and struck out five.

Harwich finally broke through in the 13th. Chris Wade (Kentucky) reached on an error to start the frame, and he went first to third on a single by Dan Grovatt (Virginia). That set things up for Gosselin, who knocked the walk-off single to right field. Gosselin and Grovatt, both late arrivals after Virginia’s run to Omaha, are already in the top five in hits on the team.

The win moved Harwich to 6-7, just 2.5 games back in the suddenly tight East standings. Y-D is sitting in second place at 8-7 with the second-best record in the league.

Elsewhere

Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) might be making himself a little money. A third-round pick this year, Morgado arrived in Bourne last week and turned in a solid, but short, first start. His second start wasn’t exactly long, but it didn’t have to be. Morgado went five innings last night against Cotuit and struck out 13. That’s a league-high for the summer. At one point, Morgado struck out 10 of the first 11 batters he faced. Clearly one of the most dominant performances we’re likely to see all summer.

Bourne ended up winning the game 2-1 thanks to an eighth-inning rally. Cotuit starter Jake Buchanan (NC State) struck out five in six shutout innings, but the Braves got things going against the Kettleer bullpen. Kyle Roller (East Carolina) tripled to start the inning and Chris Wallace (Houston) knocked him in with a single to tie the game. Bourne eventually loaded the bases and Wallace trotted home with the go-ahead run on a walk to Scott Woodward (Coastal Carolina). Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) stranded a runner on third in the ninth to pick up the save.

Wareham moved into first place in the West — at least in the loss column — thanks to a 6-1 win over Hyannis and Bourne’s victory over Cotuit. Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt) allowed one run in 5.1 innings and the bullpen combined for 3.2 shutout innings to secure the win. Brett Eibner (Arkansas) and Zach Wilson (Arizona State), both of whom recently arrived from the College World Series, each hit home runs to power the six-run attack. Eibner ended up 2-for-2 with three RBI. Shea Vucinich (Washington State) went 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Brewster hung on for a 9-8 victory and handed Chatham its fourth straight loss. The Whitecaps led 7-2 in the sixth before Chatham came all the way back to tie the game 8-8. Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) went 3-for-4 with a home run four RBI, and he started an eighth-inning rally with a single. Pinch-running for him, Tyler Thornburg (Charleston Southern) scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Stephen Yarrow (San Francisco). It proved to be the winning run when the game was called after the eighth due to darkness. John Barr (Virginia) and Colin Walsh (Stanford) each had three hits for Brewster. Dean Green (Oklahoma State) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Matt Perry (Vermont) went 2-for-4 with two RBI for Chatham.

Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) went 3-for-3 with a home run and two runs scored to help Falmouth past Orleans 4-2. Brian Fletcher (Auburn) and Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt) also drove in runs, as did the elusive Hunter Morris (Auburn). Morris was a third-round pick out of high school two years ago and has been on the Falmouth roster for two years running. He went with Team USA last year and was an invitee again this year, but apparently didn’t take part in the trials. Last night’s game marked his first appearance in a Falmouth uniform. Tommy Collier (San Jacinto) picked up the win for the Commodores with five shutout innings.

What to Watch For Tonight

Another high draft pick, Cotuit’s Chris Dwyer (Clemson) will get the start against Y-D. Dwyer struck out nine in five shutout innings last time out. He’ll actually be going up against Mario Hollands, a former Kettleer. The lefty from UC Santa Barbara played for Cotuit last year and was a 24th-round pick earlier this month. This will be his first appearance of the summer.

With the rule changes implemented, I believe Sunday’s seven-inning doubleheader games were the first scheduled seven-inning games played in the Cape League in a long time. I’m guessing they might have had a few somewhere along the line, maybe before the modern era. But Cape League games have been nine-inning affairs for as long as I can remember.

Either way, the Y-D Red Sox didn’t mind.

Using just two pitchers — the fewest number of pitchers they’ve used in any two-game stretch this summer — the Red Sox swept past Falmouth 6-3 and 4-0 in a Sunday doubleheader. The victories gave Y-D a four-game winning streak and moved them to 8-6. They had previously lost five games in a row.

In the first game of the twin bill, Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast), the most effective starter in the league thus far, made his third appearance and delivered a strong performance again. Having not allowed a run prior to Sunday, Sale stretched his scoreless streak all the way to 20 innings when he got through six without allowing anything. Falmouth finally got to him in the seventh, touching him up for three runs. But with two men on and two out, Sale finished the game with a strikeout. He ended up striking out four and walking none in the complete-game effort. Sale leads the league in strikeouts.

Brian Hernandez (UC Irvine) led the way at the plate in game one, going 2-for-2 with three RBI. Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) and Mickey Wiswall (Boston College), two of the league’s top hitters, stayed hot with two hits apiece. Wates is second in the league with a .391 average. Wiswall is fourth at .360.

It was more of the same for the Red Sox in the second game of the doubleheader. John Leonard (Boston College) one-upped Sale by taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning. He lost it with one out in the sixth but still finished off six scoreless frames and struck out five. Kevin Rhoderick (Oregon State) came on in the seventh with a runner on first and struck out the side to preserve the victory.

Wiswall went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Jordan Casas (Long Beach State) and Blake Kelso (Houston) had two hits apiece.

With the victories and a Chatham loss, the Red Sox moved within three games of the Anglers for first place in the East.

Elsewhere

In the other doubleheader, Harwich and Bourne played to a split, with Bourne winning game one 6-3 and Harwich taking game two 8-1. Stefan Romero (Oregon State) went 3-for-3 in the first game with a home run (his third) and four RBI. Chris Wallace (Houston) added a home run in the same inning as Romero. Cameron Roth (UNC Wilmington) picked up the win with six strikeouts in four strong innings. Harwich turned things around in game two, posting its second-highest run output of the season. Everybody in the lineup was on base at least once, with Trent Mummey (Auburn) driving in two Phil Gosselin (Virginia) delivering two hits. Justin Wright (Virginia Tech) and Chase Reid (Vanderbilt) combined to strike out 11. Reid struck out six and didn’t allow a hit in 3.1 innings of relief.

A wild first inning was all Orleans needed to beat Chatham 2-1. Two walks and four wild pitches staked the Firebirds to a 2-0 lead. Starter Jimmy Reyes (Elon) made that lead stand up with seven strong innings. He allowed just an unearned run, struck out nine and didn’t walk anybody. Matt Packer (Virginia) and Alex Hassan (Duke) went one scoreless inning each to keep the slim lead. Logan Verrett (Baylor), who had been with Team USA, struck out seven in 5.1 innings after relieving starter Thomas Keeling (Oklahoma State) in the first. The loss was Chatham’s third in a row.

Cotuit broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth to beat Hyannis 2-1. An RBI single by Zach Cox (Arkansas) scored Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech) with the go-ahead run. Benjamin Rowen (Virginia Tech) struck out four in three scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Wareham played just its second game in the last seven days, but the Gatemen certainly weren’t rusty. After postponements the last two nights, the Gatemen reached double digits in runs for the first time all year in a 10-2 victory over Brewster. Shea Vucinich (Washington State), Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge), George Springer (Connecticut) and Ryan LaMarre (Michigan) all drove in two runs each, with Springer delivering a team-high three hits. Blake Monar (Indiana) allowed two runs in 5.1 innings to pick up the win. Scott Rembisz (Florida International), Keith Bilodeau (Maine) and Zach Brewster (Georgia Tech) combined for 3.2 shutout innings of relief.

What to Watch For Tonight

Jake Buchanan (NC State) goes for Cotuit against Bourne and Bryan Morgado (Tennessee), the highest-drafted player on the Cape this year. Neither pitcher allowed an earned run in his first start.