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A Grand Night

Wade Wass hit two grand slams and had nine RBI last night.
Wade Wass hit two grand slams and had nine RBI last night.

 

On a July night last summer, Max Pentecost delivered the season’s most memorable performance when he went 5-for-5 with two home runs. The Bourne catcher had a great summer overall, but that was the night he put himself in the MVP running and the night he cemented his burgeoning prospect status.

It remains to be seen what the rest of the 2014 summer – and beyond – holds for Brewster catcher Wade Wass (Alabama). But on a July night, Wass had the same kind of night that Pentecost had.

In a 12-5 Brewster win over Wareham at Stony Brook Field, Wass hit two grand slams and drove in nine runs.

Cape Cod Baseball League single game records are not readily available online, but I’ve got to think Wass’s performance cracks the books somewhere. In Major League Baseball history, players have two hit grand slams in a single game just 13 times. The last was in 2009. Nine RBI is a little more common at the MLB level, but in seven years of writing about the Cape League, I can’t remember a player hitting that number.

Obviously, it was a heck of a night.

Wass, a junior-college transfer, hit .302 with five homers for Alabama this spring. He was a 13th-round draft pick in 2012 out of the junior college ranks but stayed put.

This summer, he had just five hits in his first nine games but broke out with a home run on a 3-for-4, four RBI night on Saturday. After an 0-4 on Sunday, he delivered his grand performance Wednesday.

With a television audience on Fox College Sports – the crew’s first Cape broadcast of the summer – Wass came up in the third inning with the bases loaded and delivered his first grand slam. In the fifth, he doubled home a run, giving him a pretty good performance even if he had stopped there.

He did not. In the eighth, he came up again with the bases loaded and again smashed a grand slam.

Brewster won 12-5, with big nights from Braden Bishop (Washington) and Gio Brusa (Pacific) as well. Cody Ponce (Cal Poly Pomona) and Andrew Naderer (Grand Canyon) combined on a solid pitching performance.

And they would all agree the night belonged to their teammate. Wass, not surprisingly, now leads the league in RBI with 18 and is tied for second in home runs with three.

 

Orleans 13, Hyannis 0

The Firebirds now own the longest win streak of the summer thanks to a 13-0 shutout of Hyannis last night. Trent Thornton (North Carolina) struck out seven in five innings and combined with Cody Moffett (Arizona) and Tyler Honahan (Stony Brook) on the shutout. Thornton, who gave up five runs in his last start, allowed just three hits, all singles. The Firebirds offense gave him plenty of support, racing to a 7-0 lead after three innings. R.J. Ybarra (Arizona State) went 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Brett Lang (North Carolina) drove in three runs. Edwin Rios (Florida International) also had two RBI, giving him 16 on the year. Orleans is now 11-8, just one game back of Harwich for first place in the East. The Firebirds have scored 39 runs in their last three games and 59 in the six-game streak.

 

Bourne 7, Harwich 6

Losers of three straight, Bourne came to Whitehouse Field and righted the ship with a narrow victory over East-leading Harwich. The Braves are now 12-6, matching Harwich for the best record in the league. The teams combined for 29 hits in their match-up, but Bourne had a little more offense. Blake Davey (Connecticut) had three hits and two RBI, while five of his teammates knocked in one run apiece. Davey and Harrison Bader (Florida) both homered. Harwich was balanced as well, getting at least one hit from every spot in the lineup, including two from recently arrived C.J. Hinojosa (Texas). Jacob Sparger (Louisville) got the win in relief for Bourne. Joey Strain (Winthrop) picked up a save.

 

Chatham 7, Cotuit 2

The big night by Wass will make headlines, but nobody in the league has been hotter of later than Chatham’s A.J. Murray (Georgia Tech). He went 3-for-3 with a home run and three RBI last night as the Anglers beat Cotuit 7-2. Murray is riding an eight-game hit streak that includes seven two-hit games and three home runs. He’s batting an even .500 – 18-for-36 – in the streak. He’s tied for the league lead in homers, ranks second in RBI and is sixth in batting average. Last night, Chris Shaw (Boston College) also homered for the Anglers and Kal Simmons (Kennesaw State) added two hits. Jordan Hillyer (Kennesaw State) allowed one run in five innings, maintaining some remarkable consistency. He has gone exactly five innings and given up exactly one run in all three of his starts, and he has won them all.

 

Y-D 8, Falmouth 1

Kevin Duchene (Illinois) delivered the performance Y-D’s been waiting for, striking out nine in six shutout innings as the Red Sox beat Falmouth 8-1. Duchene, the former Big Ten Freshman of the Year, hadn’t yet hit his groove and sported a 6.08 ERA after three starts. But Wednesday, he didn’t allow a hit until the fourth inning and gave up just two overall. The nine strikeouts vaulted him to second in the league. With Duchene pitching like that and Falmouth starting Kevin McCanna (Rice) the game shaped up as a low-scoring affair, but Y-D scored five runs – four unearned – off McCanna, who had allowed four runs all season. Jordan Tarsovich (VMI) went 3-for-4 to raise his league-best average to .413. Hunter Cole (Georgia) and Vincent Jackson (Tennessee) had two RBI apiece.

 

What to Watch

Today will bring the first of two games in the annual Fourth of July holiday rivalry series. Orleans and Chatham will be interesting as always, especially with the Firebirds riding their win streak. In Brewster, we’ll see what Wade Wass can do for an encore against Harwich’s Michael Boyle (Radford), who hasn’t allowed an earned run all summer.

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Fire Power

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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.