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Daily Fog: Evened Out

Sam Haggerty and Hyannis were the last unbeaten team in the league - for a few hours.
Sam Haggerty and Hyannis were the last unbeaten team in the league – for a few hours.

 

Five days into the Cape Cod Baseball League season, nobody’s undefeated and nobody’s winless.

Yesterday’s slate of doubleheaders assured that. Previously unbeaten Harwich and Hyannis squared off and split their doubleheader, Brewster handed Bourne its first loss, and Yarmouth-Dennis broke into the win column twice with a sweep of Wareham.

I think the Red Sox were the happiest if the bunch.

Coming into the year, they looked like one of the most talented teams in the league but didn’t get much going in the first three games of the season, losing 7-2, 3-0 and 2-1. The third of those was the most frustrating as potential ace Michael Murray (Florida Gulf Coast) was charged with two unearned runs in a 2-1 loss.

Sunday, the Red Sox were finally on track.

In game one, they had their best offensive day of the season and beat the Gatemen 7-1. Rob Fonseca (Northeastern), who missed the spring season due to injury, smacked a home run for his first Cape League hit. Jason Goldstein (Illinois) and Donnie Walton (Oklahoma State) added two hits apiece, and Michael Foster (Northeastern) drove in two runs.

On the mound, former first-round pick Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton) made his Cape League debut and struck out three in three scoreless innings. Dimitri Kourtis (Mercer), who played for Harwich in 2012, followed with three strong innings for the win.

In game two, Josh Staumont (Azusa Pacific) and Tyler Jay (Illinois) combined to allow just an unearned run in seven innings as Y-D won 3-1. A.J. Simcox (Tennessee) knocked in two runs while Fonseca and Brennon Lund (BYU) had two hits each.

Kyle Cody (Kentucky), potentially one of the top pitching prospects in the league, struck out six in three innings for Wareham.

Hyannis 2, Harwich 0; Harwich 5, Hyannis 2

Hyannis staked claim to the title of lone unbeaten – but it didn’t last long. After knocking off unbeaten Harwich to go to 3-0, the Harbor Hawks fell in game two to the Mariners. In the opener, Jordan Minch (Purdue) and Matthew Margaritonda (Marshall) combined on the shutout, scattering seven hits while striking out three. Hyannis was out-hit 7-3, but scratched across runs in the first and third innings. Joe Purritano (Dartmouth) had an RBI, while Bobby Melley (Connecticut) and Matthew Britton (Mississippi State) had one hit each. In game two, Harwich starter Jon Harris (Missouri State) struck out eight in four innings and his offense rallied from a 2-0 first-inning deficit. Ian Happ (Cincinnati), who went 5-for-6 in the doubleheader, had three hits in game two and scored a run. Tyler Servais (Princeton) added two hits and Danny Zardon (LSU) had an RBI.

Brewster 5, Bourne 2; Bourne 4, Brewster 3

The Whitecaps handed Bourne its first loss in game one. Andrew Lee (Tennessee) struck out six and allowed one earned run in two innings for the win, and Evan Hill (Michigan) picked up the save. Gio Brusa (Pacific) hit his first home run of the year and drove in two, while Luke Lowery (East Carolina) also knocked in two. In the second game, Bourne held off a Brewster rally to win by a run. Jake Long (Clemson) got the win in relief with 2.1 scoreless innings and John Gorman (Boston College) notched a save. Richard Martin Jr. (Florida) had two hits, an RBI and two runs scored to lead the Braves offense.

Cotuit 4, Chatham 1; Cotuit 3, Chatham 0

Cotuit moved to 3-2 on the year with a sweep of Chatham, who fell to 1-4. Four pitchers combined on a steady performance in game one, with Adam Whitt (Nevada) picking up the win. Casey Schroeder (Polk State College), Brendan Hendriks (San Francisco) and D.C. Arendas (South Carolina) drove in a run each. In game two, four more pitchers teamed up for a one-hit shutout. Dalton Potts (Tennessee Martin) and Bailey Clark (Duke) carried a no-hitter into the fourth. Chatham broke through with its lone hit in the fifth, but that was all Vincent Fiori (South Carolina) gave up. A.J. Minter (Texas A&M) closed things out with 2.2 scoreless frames. Logan Taylor (Texas A&M) had two hits to power the offense.

Falmouth 6, Orleans 5; Falmouth 9, Orleans 3

Orleans was coming off a 9-0 victory over Chatham but was swept at home by Falmouth. The Commodores scored two in the fifth inning of a back-and-forth game one on a two-run homer by Conner Hale (LSU). Hale was a late addition to this year’s roster who played a key role for the Commodores last year. Kevin Newman (Arizona), another returning player, also homered. Kyle Zimmerman (Wayne State) picked up the win in relief and Kevin Mooney (Maryland) grabbed a save. For Orleans, Christin Stewart (Tennessee) hit his second home run of the summer, making him the the only player in the league with two. In the second game, the Commodores rolled 9-3 behind a nine-hit attack. Leon Byrd Jr. (Rice) went 2-for-3 and drove in three runs, while Matthew Eureste (San Jacinto) went 3-for-4 and is now hitting .556 on a temp contract. Hale went 2-for-4 to add to his big day. On the mound, Matt Eckelman (St. Louis) picked up the win.

What to Watch

Just one game on the docket tonight, a makeup between Brewster and Hyannis. It’s set for 6 p.m. at McKeon Park. Starting pitchers still TBD.

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Daily Fog: The Start that Counts

Ian Happ is off to a big start for Harwich - and so are his team's starting pitchers.
Ian Happ is off to a big start for Harwich – and so are his team’s starting pitchers.

 

In a Cape Cod Baseball League season, it always takes a week or two for starting pitchers to warm up. Many have been out of action for a while, so they have to get stretched out. They start small, three innings, four innings, maybe five.

But in Harwich, they have started big.

A night after James Mulry (Northeastern) struck out nine in seven shutout innings, Jason Inghram (William & Mary) took a perfect game into the sixth and struck out eight in seven scoreless frames as the Mariners moved to 2-0 with a 10-0 victory over Brewster.

Of the 20 starts made by Cape League pitchers this year, only three have seen the starter go more than six innings, and Harwich’s southpaw duo owns two of those. The average has been 4.2 innings, and Mulry and Inghram have blown that out of the water.

Inghram’s performance was part of a big night for pitching on the Cape, where three games ended in shutouts. His performance was as good as any.

Inghram was the ace of the William & Mary staff this spring with an ERA under two and a 10-2 record. He also racked 109.2 innings, so he’s plenty warmed up. On Thursday, he needed just 86 pitches to get through seven. He retired the first 17 batters he faced before Josh Vidales (Houston) broke up his perfect game in the sixth. He allowed one more two-out hit in the seventh and nothing else.

Ronnie Glenn (Penn) and Skylar Hunter (The Citadel) pitched a scoreless frame each to finish off the win.

The Harwich offense also took care of business, pounding 11 hits and breaking the game open with a six-run fourth. Returning star Ian Happ (Cincinnati) had another big night, going 2-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI. Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) added two hits and three RBI, while Anthony Hermelyn (Oklahoma) drove in two.

North Carolina star Skye Bolt made his long-awaited Harwich debut when he pinch-hit in the eighth. Bolt was on the Harwich roster last year but ended up with Team USA.

Falmouth 3, Y-D 0

Pitching also shined in Yarmouth, where second-year Falmouth Commodore Kevin McCanna (Rice) tossed six innings of one-hit baseball in a 3-0 win. McCanna had an ERA over six on the Cape last summer, but his spring at Rice was an indicator that he’d be moving in the right direction this summer. He obliged in his first start, striking out four and giving up just the one hit. At the plate, Matt Eureste (San Jacinto) and Austin Afenir (Oral Roberts) – both on temporary contracts – drove in a run apiece, with Afenir notching three hits. Y-D starter Kevin Duchene (Illinois), a former Big 10 Freshman of the Year, gave up two runs in 4.2 innings.

Bourne 1, Orleans 0

The other shutout belonged to Bourne, which moved to 2-0 with an 11-inning victory over the Firebirds. Eric Nyquist (Mercer) gave up two hits in six innings before giving way to the bullpen, which picked up where he left off. Lucas Laster (Mississippi State), John Gorman (Boston College) and Brad Raley (Lake Erie College) delivered five scoreless frames and set the stage for Bourne to walk-off in the 11th. With a runner on third, Billy Fleming (West Virginia) smacked a base hit to bring in the only run of the game and give Bourne the win. The Braves finished with only three hits as Orleans pitchers were just as good as their counterparts. Tyler Honahan (Stony Brook) started and struck out five in five innings.

Wareham 13, Chatham 3

Wareham’s 2013 offense did not score more than 12 runs a single time, but the 2014 Gatemen did it on day two as they got into the win column with a blowout of Chatham. Wareham got at least one hit from every player in the lineup and finished the night with 17. Nick Halamandaris (California) went 3-for-5 with two RBI, while Memphis teammates Jake Little and Keaton Aldridge each hit home runs – the first homers of the Cape League season. Little and Aldridge also had multi-hit games, along with Willie Calhoun (Arizona), Andrew Knizner (NC State) and Charlie Warren (Rice). Anthony Kay (Connecticut) got the win with three scoreless innings of relief.

Hyannis 6, Cotuit 5

The Harbor Hawks and Kettleers met for the second straight night, and the Hawks delivered their second straight one-run win. After trailing 4-0 they rallied to tie it but fell behind 5-4 in the eighth. But in the top of the ninth, they scored two to take a one-run lead and held it through the bottom of the ninth. Florida State star freshman Ben DeLuzio, a third-round pick out of high school, delivered a two-run triple in the eighth to give Hyannis the lead. Lance Thonvold (Minnesota) struck out two in a scoreless ninth to seal the win. Hyannis also got two RBI from Bobby Melley (Connecticut), the Barnstable native who’s coming off a huge year for UConn. Cotuit got another multi-hit night from D.C. Arendas (South Carolina), who went 2-for-3 and is your early league batting average leader.

What to Watch

Two big-time pitchers will make their Cape League debuts tonight. At 6:30 in Falmouth, Y-D’s Michael Murray (Florida Gulf Coast) gets the ball on the heels of a tremendous spring in which he emerged as one of the nation’s best pitchers. In Orleans, the Firebirds will start Trevor Megill (Loyola Marymount), who was a third-round pick of the Cardinals in this year’s draft. Megill, who was on Orleans’ preseason roster last year, had Tommy John surgery and missed all of this past season at Loyola.

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Daily Fog: Chatham Restart

Blake Butera, pictured last year, drove in four runs in Chatham's season-opening win.
Blake Butera, pictured last year, drove in four runs in Chatham’s season-opening win.

 

I was shocked to find, when writing the Chatham early look for this season, that Blake Butera (Boston College) hit .196 for the Anglers last year. In my head, he was a key cog for the best team in the league, not someone who finished below the Mendoza Line.

Despite the statistics, though, I think I had it right. Butera was a key cog. He started 34 games in the regular season, hit .357 in the playoffs and was welcomed back with open arms to Chatham this season.

If opening night is any indication, he won’t be below the Mendoza Line this season.

Butera went 2-for-5, with a double, two runs scored and four RBI to lead Chatham past Orleans 10-2 at Eldredge Park. Butera started the game with a single, scored soon after, and his team never trailed from there. He added a three-run double in the eighth to put the game out of reach.

Butera’s strong start coincided with a strong beginning for the Anglers, who wouldn’t mind replicating last year’s 6-0 start.

Matthew Peters (California University), who’s on a temporary contract, went 3-for-4 and scored two runs, while Patrick Mazeika (Stetson) went 1-for-2 with three runs scored and an RBI. Mazeika played briefly for Cotuit last summer and should be a big addition for the Anglers.

On the mound, another returnee from Boston College made his second straight opening night appearance for Chatham. Andrew Chin, who came out of the bullpen in Chatham’s opening night win last year, gave up just an unearned run in four innings. Lou Distasio (Rhode Island), another guy on a temp contract, pitched two perfect innings and was credited with the win.

Orleans got two hits and an RBI from Edwin Rios (Florida International).

Harwich 7, Y-D 2

The Mariners also got a big night from a returning standout as Ian Happ (Cincinnati) went 2-for-2 and scored two runs in a victory over Y-D. Happ is perhaps the Cape League’s top returning prospect. Also coming up big were Robert Youngdahl (Notre Dame), who went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Angelo Amendolare (Jacksonville), who knocked in two. The offense was more than enough for starter James Mulry (Northeastern), who had by far the night’s best pitching performance. In a time of the season when short outings are the norm, Mulry went seven scoreless and struck out nine, while scattering five hits. Interestingly, his college teammate Michael Foster (Northeastern) was the only one to do much damage, going 3-for-4 for Y-D. Doug Willey (Franklin Pierce) was strong in relief, striking out five in four scoreless innings.

Bourne 4, Wareham 2

South Florida standout Jimmy Herget went six strong innings and the Braves had a steady offensive night in a 4-2 win over the Gatemen. Herget, who was last seen on a mound in a conference tournament upset of Louisville, will head to Team USA training camp soon, but made his first start in Bourne count. He allowed two runs and struck out five in six innings for the win. The Braves got two hits and an RBI each from Logan Ratledge (NC State), Blake Davey (Connecticut), and Stephen Wrenn (Georgia). Wareham got five strong innings of relief from Liam O’Sullivan (St. Leo) in the loss.

Hyannis 3, Cotuit 2

The Harbor Hawks edged rival Cotuit 3-2 thanks to a run in the sixth. Cam Gibson (Michigan State) drew a bases-loaded walk to break the 2-2 tie and Hyannis held on from there. Matthew Margaritonda (Marshall) and Ian Gibaut (Tulane) combined on three scoreless innings of relief, with Gibaut picking up the save. Starter Tate Scioneaux (SE Louisiana) also pitched well, giving up one earned in six innings for the win. Dalton Britt (Liberty) had two hits to lead the offense. Cotuit got three hits from D.C. Arendas (South Carolina).

Brewster 7, Falmouth 3

Coming off its second straight last-place finish, Brewster started 2014 in style, rallying from an early 3-0 deficit to top Falmouth 7-3. Travis Maezes (Michigan) had the best offensive night in the league, going 4-for-4 with two runs scored. Dalton DiNatale (Arizona State) added two hits and two runs scored, while John Sansone (Florida State) delivered a three-run triple that broke the game open. On the mound, Cody Ponce (Cal Poly Pomona) gave up three runs in 3.1 innings before a shutdown performance by the bullpen. Ryan McCormick (St. John’s) pitched 2.2 perfect frames and Andrew Naderer (Grand Canyon) struck out four in three scoreless innings. For Falmouth, reigning Cape League batting champ Kevin Newman (Arizona) went 2-for-5 with two RBI.

What to Watch

Y-D hosts Falmouth at 5 p.m for what should be a good early-season pitching performance. Kevin Duchene (Illinois) makes his first start for Y-D after a spring in which he had a 1.80 ERA in the weekend rotation. Kevin McKanna (Rice) gets the ball for Falmouth as he makes his return to the Cape.