On a night when college baseball continued to lament the lack of offense in Omaha, their college baseball brethren on Cape Cod flashed some pop in Yarmouth.
Orleans smacked four home runs in a 6-2 victory over Y-D. It is, I believe, the first time since 2012’s year of the home run that a Cape League team has gone yard four times in one game.
Taylor Ward (Fresno State) started the power surge in the second inning, when he smacked a leadoff home run. Two pitches later, Edwin Rios (Florida International) went back-to-back with another bomb. In the third, leadoff man Johnny Sewald (Arizona) hit one, and in the fourth, R.J. Ybarra (Arizona State) clubbed a two-run blast.
Orleans hit more home runs in this one game than any other Cape League team has hit in the entire season. Orleans already led the league in homers with three, but with seven now, the cushion is much bigger. Wareham is next with three and no other team has more than two. Two teams – Chatham and Harwich – are still without a home run.
The four-homer night on Tuesday secured Orleans’ second victory of the season as the Firebirds moved to 2-4. Trent Thornton (North Carolina) made the homers count with 5.1 strong innings on the mound. He allowed two runs and struck out four. Kyle Twomey (USC), Reilly Hovis (North Carolina) and Jacob Cronenworth (Michigan) finished the job without surrendering a run.
Cotuit 7, Bourne 6
Defending champion Cotuit won its fourth in a row with a 7-6 victory over Bourne. The Kettleers had started the summer 0-2 but haven’t lost since. They smacked 11 hits against the Braves, stole five bases and again used a parade of pitchers on their way to the narrow victory. Casey Schroeder (Polk State College) hit a home run to lead the offense, while Jeremy Taylor (East Tennessee State) drove in two runs. Drew Jackson (Stanford), a key part of last year’s championship run, made his first appearance of 2014 and went 2-for-4. The Kettleers did much of their damage against Jimmy Herget (South Florida), who had been impressive in his first start. On the basepaths, Cotuit continued to run wild. They’ve stolen a league-high 18 bases thus far. Caleb Whalen (Portland) stole one more last night and leads the league with five. And on the mound, Cotuit has used at least four pitchers in five of six games this year – and used three in the other. On Tuesday, they used six. Adam Whitt (Nevada) earned his second win with three scoreless innings out of the pen and Jeff Kinley (Michigan State) notched a save. For Bourne, Blake Davey (Connecticut) went 3-for-4 with a home run.
Harwich 2, Falmouth 1
The Mariners won their league-best fifth game thanks to a sixth-inning rally against the Commodores, who dropped to 3-3. Trailing 1-0, the Mariners got RBI from Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) and Brendon Sanger (Florida Atlantic) to take a lead. Reliever Johnathan Frebis (Middle Tennessee State), who just returned for his second stint in Harwich, tossed three scoreless innings of relief in making the lead stand up. Robby Kalaf (Florida International) tossed a scoreless ninth for the save. Steven Duggar (Clemson) had two hits for Falmouth, but the Commodores only managed four total. Falmouth’s Matt Hall (Missouri State) turned in his second solid start, going five scoreless innings and striking out six. He leads the league in strikeouts with 11. For Harwich, Michael Boyle (Radford) allowed just an unearned run in five innings.
Chatham 6, Brewster 2
Chatham snapped a four-game skid with a victory over Brewster. Nick Collins (Georgetown) had two hits and two RBI to lead the offense, which broke out after scoring a total of six runs all season. Chatham took advantage of four Brewster errors, and all their runs were unearned. Garrett Hampson (Long Beach State), Landon Cray (Seattle) and Blake Butera (Boston College) all had two hits, as did standout LSU freshman Jake Fraley, who was making his Chatham debut. On the mound, Andrew Chin (Boston College) allowed two runs in six innings, while striking out four. Jeff Gelinas (Maine) and Kyle Davis (USC) combined on the last three innings.
Hyannis 8, Wareham 4
Hyannis jumped into a three-way tie for first in the West with an 8-4 victory over Wareham. Bobby Melley (Connecticut) had his best game in a Hyannis uniform, going 3-for-5 with a double and three RBI. Daniel Kihle (Wichita State) homered and drove in three, while Sam Haggerty (New Mexico) homered as part of a three-hit night. Tate Scioneaux (Southeastern Louisiana) allowed two earned runs in 5.1 innings and Lance Thonvold (Minnesota) went 3.2 innings for the save. For Wareham, Jake Little (Memphis) hit his second home run of the season.
What to Watch
James Mulry (Northeastern), who dominated for Harwich on opening night, will make his second start as the Mariners visit Hyannis for a 7 p.m. start. The Harbor Hawks will throw Joseph Shaw (Dallas Baptist) in his Cape League debut. He had a 2.96 ERA while pitching mostly as a reliever for Dallas Baptist this spring.