daily fog: perfection in the fog

The Cape Cod fog finally made its presence felt last night. Sometimes, it’s frustrating when the fog rolls in, and I’m sure it was last night.

But it did help finish off something special.

Bourne’s Nick McCully (Coastal Carolina) tossed a five-inning perfect game as the Braves beat visiting Orleans 1-0 in a fog-shortened game.

I’m sure McCully would have liked the chance to make it a nine-inning perfect game, but five is still pretty good — and it still counts. McCully struck out five of the 15 batters he faced and was pretty much untouchable.

(Note: Reading a little more about this, I realized the game actually went into the sixth and Orleans broke up the perfect game, but that’s when the fog came in, so the game reverted back to the fifth inning, and gave McCully the perfect game.)

This was McCully’s third appearance and his second start. Both starts have come against Orleans. The first time, he allowed only three hits in five innings and he struck out six. With Saturday’s start factored in, McCully is now 2-0 with a .82 ERA. He has struck out 11 and walked two in 11 innings.

McCully’s big start comes after a very good spring at Coastal. The sophomore right-hander went 10-3 with a 3.63 ERA. He struck out 72 and walked only 27 in 89.1 innings. The year before, McCully was actually Coastal’s closer, but he pitched so well in a starting role this year that he stayed in the rotation.

Bourne is using him in the rotation as well, and he’s delivering. He has turned in the team’s two best starts this summer.

With the victory, the Braves moved to 5-7.

Elsewhere

• Also in that Bourne game, Eric Erickson (Miami) made his first start for Orleans and gave up just one run. An RBI single by Jordan Henry (Ole Miss) in the first inning was the only blemish, but it turned out to be the difference.

• Falmouth and Y-D traveled to Brockton last night for the Cape Cod Baseball Hall of Fame Classic and gave the fans there a pretty good game. The Red Sox held off a late charge from the Commodores to win 5-4. Jerry Sullivan (Oral Roberts) made his first start for the Red Sox and threw 6.1 solid innings, with a three-run third inning as the only trouble spot. Joe Kelly (UC Riverside) allowed one run in the ninth but buckled down to get the save. DeAngelo Mack (South Carolina) and Sean Ochinko (LSU) each had two hits and an RBI to lead Y-D. Falmouth’s Trevor Coleman (Missouri) went 3-for-4.

• I always have a tendency to think of non-roster players as being a notch below the guys on original rosters. But that’s really not the case, and there’s plenty of proof floating around. Wareham’s Ryan Pineda (Cal St. Northridge) is one such example. He’s still listed in the non-roster invitees section, but he was the Big West Freshman of the Year this season. He’s been good this summer, and he had two hits last night to lead the Gatemen past Harwich 3-2 in extra innings. Pineda, who’s hitting .262, had a home run and two RBI, including the game-winning RBI in the 10th. Starting pitchers Max Perlman (Harvard) and Chris Manno (Duke) both turned in solid six-inning starts, but the Gatemen eventually got to the Mariners’ bullpen.

• It’s always news when somebody shuts down Cotuit, and Brewster’s Tim Clubb (Missouri State) did the trick last night. Clubb has been Brewster’s best pitcher this season, and he continued the trend by putting the clamps on the best offense in the league. Clubb went seven innings and allowed only one run on four hits. Chris LaGrow (South Alabama) worked a scoreless inning of relief and Nick Christiani (Vanderbilt) picked up the save. Mike Freeman (Clemson) drove in all three of Brewster’s runs. As for the Kettleers, the two runs were the fewest they’ve scored in a game this year.

• Chatham’s Corey Olson (UC Irvine) was a late arrival, but he has been scorching since the day he got to the Cape, and he continued it last night. Olson went 3-for-3 to lead the A’s past Hyannis 3-2. In four games and 13 at-bats, Olson has 10 hits, putting his average at .769. The A’s got good pitching last night as well. Bobby Hernandez (Barry), allowed two runs in six innings, Jeff Lorick (Virginia) went 1.2 scoreless innings and Brad Boxberger (USC) went 1.1 innings for his fifth save. That ties Boxberger for the league lead.

• College World Series players keep trickling in. LSU’s D.J. LeMahieu made a pinch-hitting appearance last night for Harwich. I’d expect all the North Carolina players to be in lineups soon enough.

What to Watch For Tonight

• One of those North Carolina players, Colin Bates, is expected to get the start tonight against Cotuit. That’s a nice welcome to the Cape League. After getting only two runs last night, the Kettleers might also be a little angry.

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