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.
, that ball looked like a fast-moving hot air bloloan it just never dropped! And in hindsight, it never dropped! It carried out clear out of the park. it was so unusual that I still remember it. And with this recent blog entry it just raises some curiosity.Now I must say, prior to reading this post, it never occurred to me that it was anything other than superb hitting. And I’m still not convinced it was anything more than that. However, I do remember waiting half a season to see a home run sometimes. Not so this season. For what it’s worth, I noticed at the last of the regular season games in Bourne they were not using CCBL branded balls. I don’t remember what they were, but my kid came running up with a foul ball and I explained to him it was probably not a foul from the game. Then he produced another, and again it was not a CCBL ball. I just figured they ran out of CCBL balls at the end of the season. Regardless, it was curious. And I believe I saw one home run that game too.I’m an avid fan of the game and the league. I would rather attend a CCBL game than a Sox/Yankees game. The reasons are many and varied. Ironically, it’s the lack of commercialism in CCBL league games that lends a greater sense of professionalism to the experience. I know, it’s a contradiction of ideas, but it holds true for me.One wonders if we will ever be privy to an actual answer regarding these home runs and balls. I personally hope it’s just a higher level of refinement for today’s youth that is producing these runs. The grooming of today’s up and coming players is so much more refined than it was in the days of yore. To say it’s become a science is not a stretch. I personally see no reason whatsoever to juice the balls. It’s not like it will increase ticket sales. And it probably wouldn’t be doing the hitters any favors either. Not in the long run anyway.