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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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Casey at the Bat

Casey Gillaspie hit his league-leading seventh home run yesterday.

 
Casey Gillaspie was going to have a hard time matching his big brother’s success. That’s what happens your brother is a former Cape Cod Baseball League MVP.

But Gillaspie is doing his best.

The Falmouth slugger went 4-for-6 in a doubleheader yesterday and belted his league-leading seventh home run. Falmouth split the twin bill with Bourne, winning the first game 3-1 and dropping the second 4-3.

Gillaspie has now officially matched his brother in the home run category. Casey hit a league-best .345 with seven homers in his 2007 MVP campaign with Falmouth.

Casey got off to a bit of a slow start this summer. While teammate Rhys Hoskins was hot from the beginning, Kevin Cron was delivering huge games and Dylan Davis was bursting onto the scene with four home runs in his first four games, Gillaspie was a little more in the shadows. But he was clearly part of the sluggers crew, and he has steadily improved his all-around numbers in the last few weeks.

Gillaspie was hitting .235 on July 15. Since then, he’s had a hit in nine of 10 games and is batting .447 in that stretch with five extra-base hits. He leads the league in home runs by two and he ranks second in extra-base hits. His batting average is up to .292, his on-base percentage is .364 and his slugging percentage is .496.

Falmouth didn’t really need the help, but Gillaspie’s uptick makes them that much more dangerous. Davis had two RBI and Leon Byrd, Jr. (Rice) hit a home run in the game-one win yesterday. Trey Teakell (TCU) tossed seven strong innings on the mound.

In game two, Bourne got six strong innings from Austin Gomber (Florida Atlantic), who was making his final start. Tim Caputo (Rhode Island) and Mason Robbins (Southern Miss) drove in two runs each. That was enough to hold off Falmouth.

Gillaspie did his part with a double and a homer. If he stays hot, it’s going to get harder and harder to hold Falmouth off.

 

Hyannis 0, Brewster 0; Hyannis 5, Brewster 4

Hyannis and Brewster also staged a doubleheader and the Harbor Hawks came away from it with three points and a three-point lead in the West standings. Brewster got a dominant performance from Aaron Brown (Pepperdine) in game one. Brown went eight scoreless innings and struck out five. Rocky McCord (Auburn) and Jordan Foley (Central Michigan) matched him though, combining for eight strikeouts and five hits allowed in nine innings. The game ended in a 0-0 tie. In game two, the Harbor Hawks won a one-run game for the ninth time. Brian Anderson (Arkansas) brought in the go-ahead run in the sixth and Eric Eck (Wofford) notched his league-best ninth save to finish it off.

 

Cotuit 8, Y-D 3

Cotuit got two RBI each from newcomer Austin Byler (Nevada) and Team USA returnee Bradley Zimmer (San Francisco) on their way to a victory over the Red Sox. The Kettleers are three points back of Hyannis for first place in the West. Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt) added a double to take the league lead in extra-base hits. Wiseman is hitting .483 over his last nine games. On the mound, Ben Smith (Coastal Carolina) went four shutout innings with five strikeouts. John Hochstatter (Stanford) worked two scoreless innings for the win and Joel Seddon (South Carolina) got a save with three scoreless frames.

 

Wareham 11, Chatham 6

The Gatemen made the long trek to Chatham and came back with one of their best wins of the season. Ethan Gross (Memphis) went 3-for-4 with four RBI to lead the charge. Kyle Schwarber (Indiana), who went 4-for-4 in his first game back after Team USA, continued to mash, going 4-for-6 with a double in his second game. Brett Pirtle (Mississippi State) added a home run and Adam Toth (Baylor) knocked in two runs. Kurt McCune (LSU) picked up the win with five solid innings. He struck out five and allowed two runs. Jonathan Holder (Mississippi State) struck out three over the final 1.2 innings to finish it off. For Chatham, Jimmy Pickens (Michigan State) hit his fourth home run.

 

Harwich at Orleans, PPD

 

What to Watch

Chatham ace Lukas Schiraldi (Navarro College), who shut out Falmouth for six innings in his last start, draws the Commodores again as the Anglers hit the road. Kevin McKanna (Rice) is scheduled to start for Falmouth.
 

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One Night in Wareham

Jonathan Holder, pictured last year, combined with Sean Newcomb on a gem as Wareham shut out Hyannis last night.

 
Last summer in Wareham was defined by home runs, comebacks and a championship. This summer has been defined by what could have been.

While I’m not sure the 2013 Gatemen had the makings of a repeat champ, they never even got the chance to try thanks to the fact that nearly half their expected team was in Omaha for the College World Series. Factor in Team USA and other losses, and it’s been a rough summer. The playoffs are the longest of long shots at this point.

For one night, the Gatemen flashed what could have been.

Sean Newcomb (Hartford), who started on opening night and then missed nearly a month with mono, made his first start since returning and tossed seven shutout innings. Jonathan Holder (Mississippi State), who was in Omaha longer than any of the other Gatemen, relieved Newcomb and went two scoreless frames as the Gatemen shut out West-leading Hyannis 3-0.

Had those two – an ace and a dominant closer – been healthy or in town all summer, maybe the season looks a little different for the Gatemen. That didn’t happen, so they had to settle for one night.

Newcomb may still end up as one of the league’s top pitching prospect, despite the light workload. The hard-throwing lefty had gone six shutout innings in his first start. This time, he cruised for seven innings, striking out four and giving up just four hits. Newcomb didn’t do so well in his relief appearances, which will skew his numbers, but he has a 0.00 ERA in his two starts.

Holder has been dominant ever since he arrived, but he hasn’t gotten a chance to close many games since the Gatemen have struggled. Last night, Holder was at his best. Five of the six outs recorded came on strikeouts as he out-did his previous season strikeout total in one shot. He has yet to allow a run in five appearances.

Hyannis, which had scored 14 runs in its last two games, couldn’t keep up with the Gatemen aces. Wareham also backed their pitchers with Daniel Rosenbaum (Louisville), Adam Toth (Baylor) and Ethan Gross (Memphis) each driving in a run.

With Newcomb and Holder on the mound, three runs was plenty. It could have been like that all summer, a tag team making sure even a light-hitting team was winning every time they got the ball. It didn’t work out that way, but it made for one very good night.

 

Falmouth 14, Brewster 3

Locked in a 0-0 game in the fourth, Falmouth exploded for all 14 of its runs in the next five innings en route to a blowout victory over the Whitecaps in a game that was called after eight innings due to darkness. Kevin Newman (Arizona) led the hit parade with another in a long line of huge games by Falmouth players. He went 5-for-6 with six RBI. He had 10 RBI on the season coming into the game. Richard Martin, Jr. (Florida) had three hits and three RBI and is now seven for his last 15. Kevin Cron (TCU) added two hits and two RBI, while Sam Gillikin (Auburn) had three hits, Dylan Davis (Oregon State) had two and Casey Gillaspie (Wichita State) had two. On the mound, Kevin McKanna (Rice) gave up two earned runs in six innings for the win. His Rice teammate Zech Lemond followed him to the hill and pitched two hitless frames to finish it off.

 

Cotuit 8, Bourne 5

The Kettleers moved into a tie with Hyannis atop the West thanks to a win over Bourne and the Harbor Hawks’ loss. Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt) homered, his third of the year, and Jake Fincher (NC State) went 3-for-5. Two guys who could be big late-season additions, Mark Payton (Texas) and Austin Byler (Nevada) also chipped in. Payton had two RBI and Byler had one. Payton hit .393 for Texas this spring, while Byler hit .346 with eight home runs for Nevada. On the mound, Jared Walsh (Georgia) gave up two runs in five innings for the win. Adam Ravenelle (Vanderbilt) picked up the save.

 

Orleans 4, Y-D 3

This time last week, the Firebirds were trying to hold off Brewster for fourth place in the East. Thanks to last night’s win – their third in a row – they’ve now leap-frogged Y-D for third place and are just three points out of second. Y-D led 4-0 before the Firebirds tied it with four in the sixth and took the lead with one in the seventh. Luis Paula (North Carolina) pitched 1.1 scoreless innings for the win and Matt Troupe (Arizona) struck out three in two innings for his seventh save. Ross Kivett (Kansas State) led the offense with four hits. Austin Davidson (Pepperdine) and Collin Slaybaugh (Washington State) drove in two runs each. For Y-D, Jose Trevino (Oral Roberts) homered and Alex Blandino (Stanford) had three hits. James Kaprielian (UCLA) struck out seven in six innings.

 

Harwich at Chatham, ppd to August 1

 

What to Watch

It’s a league-wide off day today. When the teams get back to action Wednesday, look for a battle of division leaders as Chatham visits Hyannis.

 

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Power Surge

Dylan Davis and his Falmouth teammates have hit 13 home runs in the last six games.

 
In 2012, the year of the home run in the Cape Cod Baseball League, the Falmouth Commodores were a middle-of-the-road power-hitting team, well off the pace of the Harwich’s and Wareham’s of the world.

Apparently, the power was just going to be a year late.

The Commodores have flashed power potential throughout the 2013 season, and in the last week, they’ve exploded. They hit three home runs last night in a 9-1 thrashing of Brewster that ran their record to 13-8.

Nearly all of the power has been provided by the team’s big four – Rhys Hoskins, Casey Gillaspie, Kevin Cron and recent arrival Dylan Davis. They are the league’s top four home run hitters. Davis has five, while the other three each have four homers.

And get this – the 17 home runs totaled by those four alone are more than the home run totals of any team in the league.

It’s been quite a surge. Thirteen of the 17 have come in the last six games. Hoskins (Sacramento State), who’s been among the league leaders for most of the year, has hit one in that stretch. Gillaspie (Wichita State) has started heating up and has hit two. Cron (TCU), a former third-round pick out of high school who had a rough spring, has caught fire and hit four in the last five games.

And then there’s Davis. The rising junior at Oregon State played briefly with Brewster last summer but has been a huge pick-up for Falmouth, easily the best late arrival of the summer. Davis hit two home runs in his second game of the summer, one the next day and one more the day after that. He took a break for one game, then hit his fifth home run in the win over Brewster last night.

Five home runs in six games is a rare Cape League feat, even with the year of the home run taken into account. Home run king Tyler Horan had six in six games at one point last year, but no one else did that – or did what Davis has done. Even Cape League MVP Phil Ervin didn’t have a stretch like that.

Obviously, all the power has been a great thing for the Commodores, who have won four of five after a pretty good hot streak before that. In addition to the homers against Brewster, they had hits from nearly every spot in the lineup. On the mound, Kevin McKanna (Rice) made his first start and gave up just a run in five innings for the win. Kevin Mooney (Maryland) and Garrett Cleavinger (Oregon) sealed the deal.

If the Commodores keep getting solid pitching and keep getting guys on base for their big hitters, look out.

Because the power surge may not be over.

 

Wareham 12, Hyannis 7

The Gatemen didn’t show quite as much pop as Falmouth, but theirs was more welcomed. Mired in a season of offensive struggles, Wareham delivered its best game of the season in a matinee at McKeon Park, winning the slugfest to improve to 5-17. Hyannis dropped to 13-7. Daniel Rosenbaum (Louisville) went 3-for-4 with three RBI while Will Schwanke (Arkansas) had two hits and three RBI to lead the way. Brett Pirtle (Mississippi State) and Ethan Gross (Memphis) added three hits apiece. Tino Lipson (UC Davis), who had missed about two weeks of action, went 2-for-5 in his second game back. Wareham did a lot of the damage against Hyannis starter Austin Pettibone (UC Santa Barbara), who had been lights out in previous outings. On the mound for the Gatemen, Ryan Riga (Ohio State) got the win in relief.

 

Chatham 3, Y-D 2

Chatham is consistently finding ways to win – and win a lot. The Anglers stretched their win streak to five and ran their league-best record to 15-6-1 with their second straight walk-off victory. After falling behind 2-0 in the sixth, they immediately tied it. Then in the ninth, Dante Flores (USC) doubled home Mitchell Gonsolus (Gonzaga) with the winning run. The late heroics were part of a 3-for-5 night for Flores, who took over the league lead in hitting at .386. Jimmy Pickens (Michigan State) added two hits while Michael Russell (North Carolina) drove in both of the sixth-inning runs. Dominic Moreno (Texas Tech) picked up the win. James Kaprielian (UCLA) made his first start for Y-D and was impressive, striking out seven in five shutout innings, but the Anglers got to the Y-D bullpen.

 

Cotuit 6, Harwich 2

The Kettleers (13-9) kept pace with Falmouth thanks to a victory over Harwich (12-10). The Coastal Carolina tag team of Ben Smith and Patrick Corbett was at it again, with each of them going four innings and striking out four. Corbett got the win. Mike Ford (Princeton) hit his third home run of the summer, while Hunter Cole (Georgia) and Drew Jackson (Stanford) each hit their first. Yale Rosen (Washington State) and Nolan Clark (Concordia) had two hits each. Ian Happ (Cincinnati) went 3-for-4 to lead Harwich.

 

Orleans 7, Bourne 1

The Firebirds (10-11) roughed up Bourne standout Austin Gomber (Florida Atlantic) for seven runs in three innings and handed the Braves (9-12) their third straight loss. Corey Miller (Pepperdine) went five scoreless innings for Orleans. Ross Kivett (Kansas State) hit a grand slam in the second inning to power the offense, while Riley Moore (Arizona) had three hits and two RBI. For Bourne, Clint Freeman (East Tennessee State) was a big bright spot, going 5-for-5 at the plate. Two relievers – Jacob Lindgren (Mississippi State) and Jack English (Florida Gulf Coast) – also pitched well, with Lindgren striking out four in two innings in his first appearance and English striking out five in just two innings.

 

What to Watch

East leading Chatham will host West tri-leader Hyannis at 7 p.m. at Veterans Field. Aaron Garza (Houston), who’s been solid all summer, goes for Chatham against Cy Sneed (Dallas Baptist).