In on the no-hitter act

Devin Smeltzer winds up for a pitch on his way to his no-hitter of Harwich Saturday night. (Courtesy Mary K. Albis)

Devin Smeltzer finished his freshman season at Florida Gulf Coast with a 6.19 ERA, not the kind of debut the highly-touted left-hander was hoping for. His first start for Hyannis in the Cape Cod Baseball League was a big step in the right direction. He struck out nine and gave up two runs in 5.2 innings.

His second start was a giant leap. Smeltzer tossed a no-hitter in a 5-0 win over Harwich at Whitehouse Field Saturday night. I believe it’s the league’s first nine-inning, single-pitcher no-hitter since 2010, when Y-D’s Jordan Pries did it. It was the first for Hyannis since Matt Daly in 2007.

Smeltzer did it on a night when Max Scherzer threw a no-hitter for the Washington Nationals. There was also a no-hitter in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.

Smeltzer needed just 91 pitches for his feat, a remarkable number. Sometimes, at this point in the summer, as arm strength is built back up, managers might shy away from pushing a pitcher the full nine innings – in 2013, three Bourne pitchers combined on a no-hitter for that very reason – but I can’t imagine there was much concern in this case.

Smeltzer threw 60 of his 91 pitchers for strikes and walked only one batter – on a 3-2 pitch – in the seventh. That was all that kept Smeltzer from a perfect game. He struck out four and recorded 13 ground ball outs, as the defense behind him shined.

After the walk, Smeltzer retired seven batters in a row to finish the game. The last batter he faced, Virginia Tech’s Saige Jenco, worked the count to 2-2 and fouled off a pair of pitches before hitting a ground ball to shortstop. Errol Robinson (Ole Miss), who handled six grounders at short, made one last play, and the celebration was on.

Austin Hays (Jacksonville) drove in three runs to back Smeltzer, while Robinson and his college teammate Jacob Noll (Florida Gulf Coast) knocked in one apiece.

With his slim build and lefty delivery, Smeltzer has often been compared to former Florida Gulf Coast – and Y-D Red Sox – star Chris Sale of the Chicago White Sox. But Smeltzer’s Cape League career now includes something Sale’s did not.

And to make all of this even better, Smeltzer is a guy you’ll want to be rooting for. He beat cancer when he was just 9 years old, long before he became a baseball star.

Orleans 3, Falmouth 1

Orleans remained the hottest team in the league, topping Falmouth 3-2 for its sixth consecutive win. The Firebirds are now 9-2, best in the league. Reggie Southall (USC), who’s taking over at shortstop now that Colby Woodmansee is with team USA, went 2-for-3 with a triple and scored two runs. Kyle Lewis (Mercer) and Alex Call (Ball State) drove in runs. Corbin Burnes (St. Mary’s), making his second start, allowed one run in five innings and struck out four. Parker Bean (Liberty) and Joe Ryan (Cal State Northridge) combined on four scoreless innings of relief.

Brewster 16, Cotuit 6

On the heels of snapping its six-game losing streak, Brewster started a win streak with an offensive barrage against Cotuit. Five players had multi-hit games and the Whitecaps scored 16 runs on 17 hits for an easy win over the Kettleers. Colin Lyman (Louisville) went 4-for-5 atop the lineup and scored three runs. Nick Senzel (Tennessee) had three hits and two RBI, while Will Smith (Louisville), Robbie Tenerowicz (California) and Jack Meggs (Washington) had two hits each. Smith and Tenerowicz both homered. Pat Ruotolo (Connecticut) was credited with the win in relief for Brewster. Matt Albanese (Bryant) homered for Cotuit.

Wareham 5, Y-D 2

The Gatemen smacked 12 hits and pulled away from Y-D for a 5-2 victory. Jay Jabs (Franklin Pierce) hit his second home run of the summer, while David MacKinnon (Hartford) and Preston Grand Pre (California) had three hits apiece. Blake Fox (Rice) made his wareham debut and gave up one run in five innings for the win. Stephen Woods Jr. (Albany) picked up the save. Wareham improved to 5-6, good for a second-place tie in the West. Y-D, lost for the fourth time in a row and fell to 3-8.

Bourne 8, Chatham 2

Bourne out-hit Chatham 10-8 but built a much bigger margin on the scoreboard in an 8-2 win over the Anglers at Veterans Field. Reid Humphreys (Mississippi State) homered and four other Braves drove in one run apiece. Nick Solak (Louisville) stayed red-hot, picking up his fifth RBI and pushing his average to .438 in four games since joining the team late. On the mound, five pitchers combined for a solid showing, with the win going to reliever Ross Vance (West Virginia). For Chatham, Trenton Brooks (Nevada) and Kyle Brooks (North Florida) book-ended – or Brooks-ended, perhaps? – the lineup with two hits apiece. Bourne is now 4-6-1 since its rough start, while Chatham dropped to 6-5.

What to Watch

Maybe not much. There is supposed to be a full-slate of Fathers Day doubleheaders but rain will threaten those.

June 17, 2015June 17, 2015

Lending a hand

Corey Julks and his Bourne teammates got a little help Tuesday night.

The Bourne Braves would have broken the spell at some point, but I’m sure they didn’t mind welcoming a few reinforcements to help the cause Tuesday night. Two players making their season debut knocked in both runs and a pitcher making his first appearance slammed the door in relief as the Braves picked up their first win of the season 4-2 over Brewster.

Bourne had played the first week of the season with only about half of the position players on its initial roster, and with four pitchers in Omaha plus a handful of others who were late arriving from Super Regional play. Combine all that with some slow starts by the hitters who were in town – the Braves are last in the league in team batting average – and it adds up to an 0-6-1 start.

Tuesday, the Braves got a lift. Nick Solak (Louisville) and Vince Fernandez (UC Riverside) were just activated Monday and jumped right into the starting lineup.

Solak was the second-leading hitter for a Louisville team that nearly made Omaha while Fernandez hit .316 with seven homers for Riverside. Tuesday, they picked up where they left off. Solak went 2-for-3 and drove in a run with a single and another on a double. Fernandez went 2-for-5 and drove in the other two runs with an eighth inning base hit.

Corey Julks (Houston), who was a bright spot in the rough opening week, went 2-for-3 and scored a run.

Bourne trailed 2-1 after five but scored one in the seventh and two in the eighth.

And another newcomer made the comeback count. Nick Jensen-Clagg (Kent State), a solid starter for the Golden Flashes who was activated Sunday, made his debut out of the bullpen in the fifth inning. Brewster had just scored its two runs, but Jensen-Clagg got out of the inning with a groundout then proceeded to dominate. He didn’t allow a run or a hit over the final 4.1 innings and struck out eight of the 13 batters he faced, without issuing a walk.

With the Braves in front, he struck out the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth then induced a fly-out to end it.

Bourne is in the win column.

Hyannis 7, Cotuit 3

The beat goes on for the red-hot Harbor Hawks, who won their fifth straight and pushed their league-best record to 7-1. They scored two in the first Tuesday at Lowell Park then pulled away late for their second win over the Kettleers this summer. Jacob Noll (Florida Gulf Coast) went 3-for-5 with three RBI, giving him eight RBI in just four games. JaVon Shelby (Kentucky), Colby Bortles (Ole Miss) and Ben DeLuzio (Florida State) knocked in one run apiece. On the mound, Mike King (Boston College) tossed five scoreless innings and struck out five for the win.

Orleans 5, Y-D 1

East-leading Orleans also stayed hot, topping the Red Sox for its third straight win and moving to 6-2. Bobby Dalbec – who told the league’s official site that he’ll return after his Team USA stint – continued his torrid start with his league-best fourth home run. He also leads the league in RBI with nine. Bryson Brigman (San Diego), who is also heading to Team USA, added a hit and an RBI. Joe Ravert (La Salle) started and gave up one run in four innings. Kit Scheetz (Virginia Tech) claimed the win in relief with two scoreless innings. For Y-D, Donovan Walton (Oklahoma State) went 3-for-5.

Falmouth 1, Wareham 0

Three pitchers combined on a shutout and Falmouth scored a run in the seventh to get to .500 with a 1-0 victory over the Gatemen. Alex Phillips (San Jacinto) gave up two hits in five innings, Seth Gustin (Holy Cross) worked two hitless frames and Wyatt Short (Ole Miss) pitched the eighth and ninth for the save. The lone run came in the seventh, when J.B. Woodman (Ole Miss) doubled and raced home on an RBI single by Heath Quinn (Samford). Those were the only two hits of the day for Falmouth. Zac Houston (Mississippi State) tossed five innings of no-hit ball for the Gatemen with nine strikeouts.

Harwich 4, Chatham 3

The Mariners trailed 3-0 but scored four in a row for a victory over the Anglers. Harwich moved to 4-3-1 while Chatham dropped to 4-3. Cavan Biggio (Notre Dame) went 2-for-4 with an RBI. Preston Palmeiro (NC State) and Sheldon Neuse (Oklahoma) also drove in one run apiece. Starter Scott Tully (Notre Dame) and four relievers combined to shut-out Chatham for the final five innings. Joe DiBenedetto (Seton Hall) was credited with the win and Luke Scherzer (Virginia Tech) the save. Scherzer came on with a runner on first in the ninth, walked two, but then escaped the bases-loaded jam with a strikeout.

What to Watch

Harwich takes on Chatham for a second straight night, this time at Veterans Field. Geoff Bramblett (Alabama) and Dan Castano (Baylor) will be on the hill after solid first starts last week.

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Fast starts after big finish

Trenton Brooks is hitting an even .500 in the early going.

Four sophomores were among the national top 50 in batting average this spring. One of them – Arkansas’ Andrew Benintendi – was draft-eligible and went as Boston’s first-round pick earlier this month. The other three have headed to New England for a different reason. Will Craig, Kyle Lewis and Trenton Brooks are all in the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer. And in one of 2015’s early storylines, those three are picking up exactly where they left off.

Through six games, Brooks leads the league with a .500 batting average. The Chatham outfielder has had a hit in every game but one (in which he was hit by a pitch in his first time up and departed). The lefty-swinging rising junior has done nothing but hit in two seasons at Nevada, with a .330 average as a freshman and a .365 mark this season.

Craig is right alongside Brooks in the Chatham lineup. after hitting .382 – tops among sophomore – and earning ACC Player of the Year honors, Craig is off to a fast start with the Anglers. He has seven hits in six games, good for a .350 average, eighth in the league. The 6’3, 220-pound third baseman should be one of the league’s best all summer.

Lewis was not on the initial roster that Orleans released, but the Mercer star was a no-brainer of an addition. The 6’4, 205-pound outfielder hit .281 as a freshman but morphed into the Southern Conference Player of the Year with a huge sophomore season. He batted .367 with a .423 OBP, and blasted 17 home runs, plus 19 doubles. Lewis homered in his second Cape League game and is now tied for the league lead with three in just six games. He’s also hitting .409, good for fourth in the league.

Plenty more big-time hitters will emerge as the summer goes on. But few will have been big-time in the spring and the summer quite like Brooks, Craig and Lewis.

With Lewis and Bobby Dalbec, Orleans has a fearsome middle of the order. They each have three home runs. Unfortunately for the Firebirds, Dalbec, a standout at Arizona, has accepted an invitation to play for Team USA.

Team USA’s roster is taking shape, and Dalbec won’t be the only loss for the Cape League. Two of the top sophomore pitchers in the nation – Maryland’s Mike Shawaryn and Virginia’s Connor Jones – are on there. Shawaryn was slated for Y-D and Jones for Orleans. News came out Sunday that four Florida players will head to Team USA after the Gators finish in Omaha, and all were originally ticketed for the Cape. Pitchers A.J. Puk and Logan Shore were on the Orleans roster, power-hitting freshman J.J Schwarz was on the Y-D roster, and outfielder Buddy Reed was on the Harwich roster.

In better news, Wareham has activated Oregon’s Matt Krook. The lefty was on his way to becoming one of the best pitchers in the 2016 draft class but got hurt during his freshman year and needed Tommy John surgery. He missed this college season but will apparently begin his comeback in Wareham. Krook was mentioned on Jonathan Mayo’s very early look at the 2016 draft.

One of the few pitchers in the league to make two starts already is Orleans’ Mitchell Jordan, and he has been up to the task. The Stetson rising junior, a solid performer in the weekend rotation this year, has turned in two carbon-copy starts: five scoreless innings, one hit, five strikeouts. He’s the early league leader in strikeouts with 10.

Andrew Frankenreider saved nine games for Northern Illinois this spring and already has two for Falmouth this summer. He has allowed just one hit in 6.2 innings. Frankenreider is just the third player in Northern Illinois history to play on the Cape.

The teams with the best records so far have been the total package. Orleans, at 5-2, leads the league in team batting average and ERA. Hyannis, now 6-1, is second in both categories.

Hyannis had the makings of a pretty good offense even before late additions Bobby Melley, Justin Arrington and Jacob Noll arrived on the scene. Melley, a Cape League vet at this point, is hitting .429 with six RBI in just four games. Arrington has a hit in all but one game and is batting .438. Noll, who hit .348 for Florida Gulf Coast this year, is 4-for-8 in three games.

In addition to its Team USA guys, the initial Orleans roster also had a pair of six-round picks in Ohio State’s Travis Lakins and Loyola Marymount’s David Fletcher. Neither is on the active roster right now. We’ll see if they make an appearance at some point this summer.

June 15, 2015June 15, 2015

Streaking Sweep

Brady Conlan catches a high throw at first during game one of Sunday's doubleheader. — Brady Conlan catches a high throw at first during game one of Sunday’s doubleheader.

Hyannis had the most impressive doubleheader Sunday in the league, beating Brewster by 8-0 and 9-2 scores to run its league-best record to 6-1. But in terms of necessity, the bigger Sunday sweep belonged to the defending champion Y-D Red Sox.

After an 0-4 start, fresh off their first win, the Red Sox rolled past Cotuit 4-1 and 4-0 to get to 3-4 and leave their shaky first few games firmly in the past. Y-D used a four-run fifth inning to turn things around in Sunday’s first game. In the nightcap, a four-run third inning and a combined shutout from three hurlers sealed the victory.

The Red Sox had stumbled out of the gates, scoring only six runs and giving up 28 in their first four games.

Y-D broke out Saturday with 12 hits and a strong showing on the mound in a 5-0 win over Bourne, and it was more of the same Sunday.

Jacob DeVries (Air Force) pitched into the final frame of the first seven-inning affair, scattering seven hits and allowing just one run. After Will Haynie (Alabama) touched DeVries up for a one-out double, Brett Adcock (Michigan) relieved him, got an out, then made things interesting with two walks to load the bases. But with the go-ahead run at the plate, Adcock induced a pop-up to end the game.

Nick Ruppert (Dartmouth) had two RBI in the big fifth inning, while Cole Billingsley (South Alabama) and Nathan Rodriguez (Arkansas) knocked in one run each. The Red Sox had four hits – their only four hits of the game – in that inning, and also took advantage of two Cotuit errors.

In game two, Y-D pitching was even a little better as a trio combined for the team’s second shutout in three games. Christian Morris (Indiana) gave up three hits in five innings, before Dalton Lehnen (Cincinnati) and Gabriel Cramer (Stanford) finished the job with a scoreless inning each.

Billingsley, Donovan Walton (Oklahoma State) and Stephen Wrenn (Georgia) had two hits apiece to lead the offense.

Hyannis 8, Brewster 0; Hyannis 9, Brewster 2

The aforementioned Harbor Hawks were indeed impressive in their sweep of Brewster, who had come in at 3-1. Dakota Hudson (Mississippi State), who’s been mostly a reliever in two seasons in Starkville, made the start in game one and struck out seven while giving up only two hits in six shutout innings. Marc Skinner (Troy) pitched the seventh to finish out the victory. Bobby Melley (Connecticut) continued his hot start with three hits and three RBI, pacing a nine-hit attack. Hyannis led 3-0 after one, then scored five in the final inning. In the second game, four pitchers chipped in on a solid effort, with Nick Deeg (Central Michigan) picking up the win on one perfect inning. Jacob Noll (Florida Gulf Coast) led the offense this time, going 2-for-4 and driving in four of the nine runs. After going hitless for the first time all season in the doubleheader opener, Justin Arrington (Baylor) went 2-for-3. Hyannis, at 6-1, is not only in first place in the West, but also has the only winning record in the division.

Orleans 6, Wareham 2; Orleans 1, Wareham 0

It was also a sweep at Eldredge Park, where the Firebirds mashed three home runs in the opener then eked out a pitchers duel in the second game. Kyle Lewis (Mercer) hit his third home run of the young season to power the game-one win, while Bobby Dalbec (Arizona) knocked his second as part of a 3-for-3 day. Sean Murphy (Wright State) went 2-for-3 and hit his first homer. Kyle Cedotal (SE Louisiana) tossed five scoreless innings for the win, and Kit Scheetz (Virginia Tech) delivered his third scoreless relief outing of the summer. In the second game, Orleans was limited to three hits by Wareham starter Anthony Kay, a standout at UConn this spring, and reliever Ryan Olson (Cal Poly Pomona), but the Firebirds scratched one run across and held down the Wareham offense completely. Dalbec’s second home run of the doubleheader provided the only offense. Mitchell Jordan (Stetson) gave up one hit in five innings. Stephen Nogosek (Oregon) and Jason Harper (Southern Connecticut) closed the shutout. Orleans, now 5-2, moved into first place in the East with the sweep.

Harwich 1, Bourne 1; Harwich 6, Bourne 2

Bourne picked up a tie in the opener (there’s an innings limit in doubleheader games) but remained winless as Harwich took a 6-2 victory in the nightcap at Whitehouse Field. Cameron Duzenack (Dallas Baptist) homered in the third inning of the first game but Harwich answered in the fourth on an RBI double by Drew Ellis (The Citadel). Neither team would score again through nine full innings. Kyle Driscoll (Rutgers) and Austin Conway (Indiana State) were lights-out in the Bourne bullpen – with Conway striking out five of seven batters he faced – while Spencer Trayner (North Carolina) and Williams Durruthy (Florida International) did the job for Harwich. In game two, Preston Palmeiro (NC State) and Michael Hernandez (Nova Southeastern) drove in two runs apiece to power the six-run burst. Bourne was within a run in the sixth before Harwich pulled away. Hunter Williams (North Carolina) picked up the win with 5.2 solid innings. Sheldon Neuse (Oklahoma) – the rare two-way player on the Cape – picked up the save in his first outing on the mound.

Chatham 6, Falmouth 4; Falmouth 3, Chatham 2

The only split of the busy Sunday came at Veterans Field, where Chatham took the opener but watched Falmouth score the go-ahead run in the ninth to win the second game. Trenton Brooks (Nevada) went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the first game. Kyle Adams (Richmond) added two RBI, while Will Craig (Wake Forest) had two hits and scored a run. James Mulry (Northeastern) pitched a scoreless inning of relief for the win and Andre Scrubb (High Point) got the save. Brooks was hot again in the second game, notching his third straight two-hit game and upping his league-best average to .500. But Falmouth had the last laugh, breaking a 2-2 tie on a Boomer White (Texas A&M) RBI single. The hit scored Mitch Longo (Ohio), who had reached on an error, taken second on a sac bunt and stolen third. Andrew Frankenreider (Northern Illinois) grabbed his second save in as many days with a scoreless bottom of the ninth.

What to Watch

It’s a league-wide off-day Monday. Getting back to action Tuesday, Hyannis and Cotuit will renew their rivalry with a 5 p.m. game at Lowell Park.