The only teams in the Cape League currently sporting a win streak are the teams already stationed atop the East division. With lopsided victories last night, first-place Orleans and second-place Chatham gained a little more cushion.
Orleans beat Cotuit 13-2 at Eldredge Park for its fourth straight win. The Firebirds are now 18-6 (that’s .750 baseball, if you’re scoring at home).
In neighboring Chatham, the Anglers won their third straight, beating Wareham 13-6. The Anglers are still eight points behind Orleans but have a three-point cushion on third-place Harwich and are just one win off the pace of Hyannis for the second-best record in the league.
For Orleans, a win streak is nothing new. At various points, the Firebirds have won six, four and three games in a row this summer, accounting for most of their wins. But the 13-2 win was their highest-scoring game and it came on the heels of an 11-2 win Tuesday. Perhaps the Firebirds are getting even hotter.
Orleans got 17 hits and blasted three home runs against the Kettleers. Ronnie Dawson (Ohio State) hit one for the second straight game, while going 3-for-5 with four RBI. Willie Abreu (Miami) and Justin Jones (Georgia State) each hit their first home runs. Orleans now has 20 homers on the summer, nine more than any other team.
Kyle Lewis (Mercer) and Nick Zammarelli (Elon) had three hits apiece, with Zammarelli doing it for the second straight night. Lewis went for a multi-hit game for the fifth time in seven games, raising his average to .360. Vanderbilt’s Bryan Reynolds, making his second appearance since arriving late from Omaha, went 2-for-4.
Eric Lauer (Kent State) had no trouble making the lead stand up, tossing six innings of no-run, one-hit baseball. He struck out eight and brought his ERA to 1.38.
Over in Chatham, the Anglers didn’t flash quite as much pop as the Firebirds, getting only one extra-base hit, but they piled up the singles in hitting a season-high in runs. Like Orleans, it wasn’t their first big game of the week. They beat Harwich 12-4 on Sunday.
Tuesday, they scored five runs against highly-touted lefty Matt Krook (Oregon). Leadoff man Trenton Brooks (Nevada) went 4-for-6 with three RBI and two runs scored. Jake Fraley (LSU) and Todd Czinege (Villanova) each went 3-for-5. Fraley is now hitting .400 and Chatham is 4-2 in the six games he’s played.
Luke Persico (UCLA) and Nick Sciortino (Boston College) drove in two runs each.
Ty Damron (Texas Tech) made his first start since June 22 and the big offensive night helped make it a warm welcome. Damron gave up one unearned run in six innings. Wareham scored five runs in the top of the ninth against the Chatham bullpen but the deficit was much too large.
Two streaking teams scoring 13 runs each are pretty tough to beat.
Falmouth 6, Hyannis 1
Falmouth’s Michael Tinsley (Kansas) hit the third pitch he saw from Hyannis ace Nick Deeg (Central Michigan) out of the park, and the Commodores were off-and-running. They scored five runs and chased Deeg – he of the 0.32 ERA – before he could even escape the first. J.J. Matijevic (Arizona) had an RBI and Shane Benes (Missouri) had two. Staked to the early lead, Conor Costello (Oklahoma State) turned in his best start of the summer, giving up one run on three hits in seven innings of work.
Harwich 4, Y-D 3
The bottom three teams in the East are trading places nearly every day and Harwich continued the musical chairs with a seventh-inning rally to beat Y-D. With his team trailing 3-2, Sheldon Neuse (Oklahoma) hit a two-run triple in the seventh and Harwich was in business from there. The bullpen didn’t allow a run in the final four innings and Luke Scherzer (Virginia Tech) nabbed his league-leading seventh save. Harwich also got a home run from Matt Gonzalez (Georgia Tech) and two hits from Brock Deatherage (NC State).
Bourne 5, Brewster 4
The Braves and Whitecaps scored all their runs in the final four innings, and Bourne managed one more in a 5-4 victory over Brewster. Corey Julks (Houston) had two hits and two RBI. Nick Solak (Louisville), Pete Alonso (Florida) and Jason Delay (Vanderbilt) had one RBI each. Bourne’s Josh Rogers (Louisville) and Brewster’s Alex Schick (California) both delivered solid starts before the bats arrived. Austin Conway (Indiana State) got the save for the Braves.
What to Watch
Just a make-up game between Brewster and Orleans on tap tonight. The Firebirds will be going for their fifth win in a row.