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Still Wild

Kyle Freeland and Hyannis remained in a first-place tie with a victory over Y-D.

 
The Western Division race finally gained some clarity on Saturday night.

But the race for the championship will still come down to the season’s final day.

With Falmouth’s 9-5 victory over Cotuit last night, the Kettleers have been eliminated from title contention. They’re three points out, and with only one game left, they can’t make up that ground. But Hyannis also won last night, 6-1 over Y-D, to remain tied with Falmouth for first place.

It’ll come down to today, the third third time in the past four years that a division champion will be decided on the final day. It was the East race in both 2010 and 2011.

Falmouth won its sixth straight to stay in the first-place tie. Trailing 5-1 in the seventh, the Commodores scored five runs to take the lead and added three in the ninth to pull away.

Rhys Hoskins (Sacramento State) had two hits and added two RBI to his league-leading total. Troy Stein (Texas A&M) also had two RBI, while Kevin Cron (TCU) had three hits. Kevin Newman (Arizona), who may well be on his way to the batting title, had two more hits after his 6-for-6 night. Casey Gillaspie (Wichita State) had two hits and an RBI.

Once the Commodores got the lead, the bullpen closed the door on Cotuit. Jared Price (Maryland) and Hunter Brothers (Lipscomb) struck out two in a scoreless inning each to preserve the lead.

For all the success Falmouth has had in the last week, Hyannis just will not go away. The Harbor Hawks have won three of their last four.

On Saturday, they got a terrific pithing performance from Rocky McCord (Auburn). He went five scoreless innings in his last start and followed it up with 5.2 strong frames. He allowed one run and struck out three. Kyle Freeland (Evansville) struck out two in 1.1 innings before Jordan DeLorenzo (West Florida), who was making just his second appearance, picked up a save with two scoreless innings.

Jose Lopez (Seton Hall) struck out eight in 6.2 innings, but Hyannis scored two unearned runs off of him and added more against the Y-D bullpen. Ryan Padilla (New Mexico) had two hits and an RBI. Austin Slater (Stanford) added two hits, and Landon Curry (Indiana State) went 1-for-2 with an RBI.

All the same teams will meet again today. As far as Hyannis and Falmouth are concerned, we’ll see if either blinks. If they remain tied, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition, and Hyannis would own the edge.

 

Orleans 1, Chatham 0

Chatham lost its fourth in a row, while Orleans won its 10th in the last 12 with a 1-0 shutout. Corey Miller (Pepperdine) went five scoreless for the win. Jeremy Rhoades (Illinois State), Brian Clark (Kent State) and Matt Troupe (Arizona) finished it off, with Troupe taking over the league lead in saves at 11. Jordan Luplow (Fresno State) delivered the only offense with a solo home run.

 

Harwich 6, Brewster 4

The Mariners remained within striking distance of Orleans for second place with a victory over the Whitecaps. Harwich scored runs in the eighth and ninth to break a 4-4 tie. Nick Howard (Virginia) went 3-for-4 with two RBI and A.J. Reed (Kentucky) hit a home run to lead the Harwich offense. Derek Fisher (Virginia) added two his and Blair DeBord (Kansas State) knocked in two. On the mound, Logan Jernigan (NC State) gave up just two earned runs in 6.2 innings. Sam Howard (Georgia Southern) went 2.1 scoreless innings for the win.

 

Bourne 8, Wareham 0

Three pitchers combined on a shutout as the Braves beat Wareham. Making his first start of the summer, Christian Colletti (Connecticut) struck out three in five scoreless innings. Cody Livingston (Southern Miss) went three innings and Will Cox (Mississippi State) finished it off. Mason Robbins (Southern Miss) and Mark Laird (LSU) had three hits each to lead the offense. Vinny Siena (Connecticut) backed his college teammate Colletti with two RBI.

 

What to Watch

Falmouth visits Cotuit at 4:30 and Hyannis hosts Y-D at 6 in the West race.
 

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Showdown

Kevin Cron knocked in two runs as Falmouth topped Hyannis.

 
Hyannis has owned the West for much of this season in part because it has owned Falmouth. Though the Commodores had the flashier numbers, the Harbor Hawks won each of the first four meetings, making it tough for Falmouth to make up ground.

Hyannis still takes the seasons series thanks to those four wins, but Falmouth has won the last two.

And the division is now co-owned.

With an 8-4 victory over Hyannis last night, Falmouth moved into a 48-point tie with the Harbor Hawks atop the Western Division. Cotuit, which lost to Bourne last night, is a point back.

For Falmouth, last night’s win continued a surge that always seemed close. The Commodores have won four in a row, their first such streak of the season, and they now lead the West in wins with 24. Hyannis is 23-16-2.

Falmouth was shut out for the first three innings last night by late addition Logan Carman (Southern Maine), a D-III All-American. Hyannis needs some help with departures of starters Jeff Hoffman, Patrick Andrews and Austin Pettibone.

It looked like Carman could provide the boost, but ultimately, Falmouth’s big bats represented a tough introduction. The Commodores scored five runs in the fourth and never looked back.

Rhys Hoskins (Sacramento State) led the parade for Falmouth with four hits, including a home run and a double. Kevin Cron (TCU) went 1-for-3 with three RBI, while Kevin Newman (Arizona) and Conner Hale (State College of Florida) had two hits and an RBI apiece.

On the mound, Trey Teakell (TCU) gave up three runs, two earned, in four innings. Kevin Mooney (Maryland) got the win with two innings of relief. Donny Murray (Holy Cross), Brent Stong (Bradley) and Hunter Brothers (Lipscomb) pitched a hitless inning each and combined for five strikeouts.

While Falmouth’s win tightens things up, the division title is still going to come down to the final three games. Falmouth plays Cotuit twice in its final three, which could make things very interesting. In the meantime, Hyannis has Wareham before two straight games against East foe Y-D.

A number of scenarios could play out. For now, Falmouth has made things a little bit tighter.

 

Harwich 5, Chatham 3; Harwich 3, Chatham 1

Harwich has been treading water for about two weeks but took a big step up yesterday with a doubleheader sweep of first-place Chatham. Harwich is now back in second place in the East, a point ahead of Orleans. In game one, Aaron Bummer (Nebraska) went six strong innings, allowing just one earned run. Mason McCullough (North Carolina) worked a perfect seventh for the save. A balanced attack led the offense, with Ben Moore (Alabama), A.J. Reed (Kentucky), Ryan Lindemuth (William & Mary) and Blair DeBord (Kansas State) driving in one run each. In game two, Harwich got a home run from Gunnar Heidt (College of Charleston) to take a lead it never lost. Brett Austin (NC State) added two hits and an RBI, while Reed knocked in one. Dillon Peters (Texas) pitched three scoreless frames and Ian Tompkins (Western Kentucky) went four strong innings for the win, allowing just one run and striking out six.

 

Y-D 5, Orleans 3

The Red Sox stopped Orleans’ eight-game winning streak with a 5-3 victory and clinched the final playoff spot in the East in the process. Facing Jared Miller (Vanderbilt), who had turned in two consecutive dominant starts, Y-D scored five runs in the first four innings and made the lead stand up. Alex Blandino (Stanford) and Jose Trevino (Oral Roberts) knocked in two runs each while Taylor White (UNLV) drove in the other. Auston Bousfield (Ole Miss) had two hits and scored two runs. On the mound, Clay Smith (St. Louis) gave up three runs in six innings for the win. Alexander Katz (St. John’s) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in his Cape debut before Kody Kerski (Sacred Heart) finished it off.

 

Bourne 2, Cotuit 0

With Jaron Long and Austin Gomber departing, the Braves are going to need some help in the starting rotation come playoff time. After last night, Jacob Lindgren (Mississippi State) may be up to the task. A starter in the spring but a reliever all summer, Lindgren made his first Cape start and dominated, tossing six shutout innings and striking out seven as the Braves shut out Cotuit. Jack English (Florida Gulf Coast) struck out four in two innings before Lindgren’s Mississippi State teammate Will Cox struck out the side in the ninth for the save. For Cotuit, newcomer Dalton Potts (Tennessee-Martin) went five strong innings but Bourne got to him for two runs that proved to be enough. Mark Laird (LSU) and Jeff Gardner (Louisville) drove in a run each.

 

Wareham 8, Brewster 1

The Gatemen pounded out 19 hits and got a strong pitching performance from Andro Cutura (Southeastern Louisana) en route to a lopsided victory. Cutura, a hard-luck loser several times, went seven innings and struck out six while allowing just a run. He also finally received some run support. Daniel Rosenbaum (Louisville) had three hits and a home run, while Trevor Podratz (Hawaii), Cole Stancil (St. Leo) and Ethan Gross (Memphis) also had three hits. Chris Chinea (LSU) had two hits and drove in two runs. With the loss and a win by Y-D, Brewster officially was eliminated from the playoff race.

 

What to Watch

Second place in the East may well be decided today as Harwich hosts a double-header with Orleans beginning at 4:30 p.m. The Mariners have a one-point edge on Orleans for second place.
 

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Too Close to Call

Leon Byrd, Jr. and Falmouth swept a doubleheader last night.

 
The Cape League’s move to an eight-team playoff structure has taken some of the fun out of regular-season playoff races. This season, for instance, the four spots in the West were already sewn up before the final week of games began.

But even without the do-or-die quests for playoff berths, the races aren’t without drama. And there’s a lot of drama in the West.

Hyannis, Cotuit and Falmouth have been at the top of the division and within just a few games of each other for pretty much the entire season. With losses by Hyannis and Cotuit, plus a doubleheader sweep by Falmouth, they’re now separated by just two points. Hyannis is in first with 46 points, Cotuit has 45 and Falmouth has 44. They all have 22 wins, with ties representing the point difference.

There have been plenty of tight races over the years in the Cape League, but rarely have they been this tight – and with three teams involved. Since 2000, the smallest point-margin between the top three teams in a division race was three. It happened in both 2001 and 2008. If the current race stays at two, Hyannis, Cotuit and Falmouth will be the most tightly-packed trio since the turn of the century.

In a race like that, any win is big. Two on one day is bigger, and that’s what Falmouth did last night. The Commodores beat Wareham 2-1 in the first game of a twin bill, getting five strong innings from Craig Schlitter (Bryant) and a save from Donny Murray (Holy Cross). Kevin Newman (Arizona) had two hits and Conner Hale (State College of Florida) drove in a run.

In game two, Falmouth looked like it was headed for a split. Wareham carried a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning, the final inning because it was a doubleheader. Instead, the Commodores scored six runs to take a lead then held off Wareham for the win.

Casey Gillaspie (Wichita State) made it 4-3 with a two-run double before Dylan Davis (Oregon State) tied the game on an RBI single. Then, with the bases loaded, Troy Stein (Texas A&M) cracked a triple to score three more runs.

Just like that, the Commodores had matched Hyannis and Cotuit with 22 wins.

And they made a close race start to look historically close.

 

Harwich 5, Hyannis 4

The Harbor Hawks nearly gained a little separation in the aforementioned raced when they broke a 0-0 tie with four runs in the top of the ninth. Harwich answered with four runs in the bottom half, though, then won the game in the 10th. Once Hyannis got the lead, it turned to league saves leader Eric Eck (Wofford), but Eck had his first rough outing of the summer as Harwich rallied. Blair DeBord (Kansas State) had an RBI single, one of four hits on the night. Brendon Hayden (Virginia Tech) followed with a two-run double, and Brett Austin (NC State) tied the game with an RBI single. Then in the 10th, Tanner English (South Carolina) brought in Branden Cogswell (Virginia) with a walk-off single, his second 10th-inning walk-off hit of the summer.

 

Orleans 2, Cotuit 0

The Firebirds won for the seventh straight time with a shutout of Cotuit. Trent Szkutnik (Michigan) scattered five hits in five scoreless innings before giving way to an increasingly dominant Orleans bullpen. Kyle Twomey (USC), Luis Paula (North Carolina), Brian Clark (Kent State) and Matt Troupe (Arizona) combined to allow just one run the rest of the way while pitching an inning each. Troupe struck out the side in the ninth for his ninth save. The pitchers got all the support they needed in a two-run fifth inning. Jordan Betts (Duke) homered and Vince Conde (Vanderbilt) drove in the other run. For Cotuit, Evan Beal (South Carolina) struck out six in 6.2 innings but was the hard-luck loser.

 

Bourne 2, Y-D 1

Bourne is reportedly saying goodbye to ace Jaron Long, according to Perfect Game’s Frankie Piliere, as Long is set to sign with the New York Yankees. The Braves picked up a victory, though, breaking a 1-1 tie with a run in the ninth to win 2-1. Michael Costello (Radford), who was making his first start after pitching in relief all summer, tossed five shutout innings. Hawtin Buchanan (Ole Miss) got the win in relief and Clint Freeman (East Tennessee State), a two-way guy who’s been more position player than pitcher this summer, picked up the save. Max Pentecost (Kennesaw State) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and scored the go-ahead run on an errant pickoff throw.

 

Brewster 8, Chatham 1

The Whitecaps snapped a season-long winless streak against Chatham with an 8-1 victory over the first-place Anglers. Justin Kamplain (Alabama) struck out six in five innings of no-hit baseball. The Anglers managed just one hit against the Brewster bullpen. In the meantime, the Whitecaps broke open a close game with five runs in the eighth. Cole Lankford (Texas A&M) led the attack with two hits and two RBI, while Scott Heineman (Oregon) had two hits and one run driven in.

 

What to Watch

Chatham’s Tommy Lawrence (Maine) dueled Jeff Hoffman in his last start and should give the fans another good tilt when Y-D and Daniel Savas (Illinois State) visit Veterans Field tonight. Lawrence has not allowed a run since his first outing, on June 25. Savas is 3-0 and two starts ago, he struck out 12 in eight innings.