Brewster beat Falmouth 5-3 in a rain-soaked and rain-shortened five inning game Thursday night.
It was not too short to keep Michael Curry (Georgia) off the bases.
The Cape League’s leader in on-base percentage kept alive an under-the-radar streak when he walked in the third inning. Curry has played in 20 of Brewster’s 27 games and has reached base in every single one of them.
Curry, who hit .297 with a .384 on-base percentage for the Bulldogs this past season, has notched hits in 14 of his 20 games with Brewster and is batting .328. With his on-base percentage at .487 – more than the usual gap between average and OBP – he’s clearly had a knack for finding his way to first. He’s drawn the fourth-most walks in the league and has been hit by three pitches. Somehow, they’ve been spaced out perfectly, filling the holes on nights without hits.
Thursday, he drew a walk as part of a five-run inning that proved decisive in Brewster’s win. Darius Hill (West Virginia), A.J. Graffanino (Washington) and Mickey Gasper (Bryant) drove in runs. The Whitecaps actually added seven runs in the top of the sixth but when the game was called, the score reverted to the last full inning completed.
Bradley Spooner (Saddleback CC) struck out five in 3.2 innings and Robert Broom (Mercer) picked up the win with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief. The victory was the second straight for Brewster, which moved into a tie in points with Y-D for second place in the East.
Curry had a hit in the inning that didn’t count, but wiping it out didn’t matter for his streak. He had already been where he usually is – on base.
It should be noted that there are actually quite a few other Cape Leaguers who have been on base in every game they’ve played – Hyannis’ Jake Mangum (Mississippi State), Y-D’s Alex McKenna (Cal Poly), Wareham’s Willie MacIver (Washington), Orleans’ Jimmy Herron (Duke) and Falmouth’s Clayton Daniel (Jacksonville State).
But none of them have done it at the .487 clip of Curry.
Hyannis 3, Chatham 1
In the only other game that wasn’t rained out, Hyannis took advantage of two unearned runs to get the lead and limited Chatham to just a second-inning run for a 3-1 win. Facing Cameron Bishop (UC Irvine), who struck out eight of 11 batters faced in his last outing, Hyannis capitalized on three second-inning errors to grab a 2-0 lead. Ryan Olenek (Ole Miss) homered later in the game for insurance. Bishop ended up striking out five in five innings, but the two unearned runs sent him to the loss. Hyannis starter Brooks Crawford (Clemson) allowed one run in 4.1 innings for the win. Ethan Larrison (Indiana State) earned the save.
What to Watch
Weather permitting, some intriguing matchups are on tap tonight. Orleans visits Cotuit in a battle of first-place teams. Brewster and Y-D face off in a battle for second place in the East. And Justin Montgomery (California Baptist) puts his 0.00 ERA on the line when Wareham visits Harwich.