Ms. Right Field Fog and I made the trip over to Falmouth last night to see the rematch of last year’s championship between Harwich and Falmouth. I picked the game in large part because Marco Gonzales was pitching for the Commodores.
He didn’t disappoint.
The Gonzaga sophomore was one of the top two-way players in the country this year. After batting fifth on opening night, he took to the mound on Friday and pitched five strong innings. He allowed one run on four hits and struck out five on his way to the win as Falmouth won 3-1.
Gonzales was very much in control in the early going, striking out two in each of the first two innings. The Mariners got to him a little more after that, but only one of the four hits — a double by Sam Dove (Georgia Tech) — in the fifth was hard-hit. And Gonzales got out of that inning with minimal damage as Dove scored on a sacrifice fly.
And by then, the Commodores were in control too. Drew Dosch (Youngstown State) had an RBI single in the first inning and an RBI double in the third to help stake Falmouth to a 4-0 lead.
Harwich got a little closer in the late innings, but the Falmouth bullpen buckled down. John Colella (Holy Cross) and Sam Paterson (Montana State) combined for 1.2 innings, before closer Cale Elam (Wichita State) worked a scoreless ninth. Falmouth finished the game with a 6-4-3 double play.
A few notes:
– Gonzales was really smooth. He pounded the strike zone (73 pitches – 52 strikes) and looked in control the whole way.
– I was also impressed with Sam Paterson, a lefty who comes to the Cape from Montana State. He struck out two of the three batters he faced, and made them look pretty bad doing it.
– Drew Dosch was not on the initial Falmouth roster, but he’s a guy who might stick around. The lefty swinger hit .353 with eight home runs for Youngstown State this spring. He was 2-for-3 last night.
– We did not win the 50-50. This is news because Ms. Right Field Fog has won the 50-50 twice in the last two years. We were angry.
– In the battle of the Jared Kings, the Falmouth Jared King (Kansas State) went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Harwich’s Jared King (Virginia) went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
– Falmouth stole six bases, getting two each from King, Billy Ferriter (UConn) and Alex Maldonado (Holy Cross).
– For more pictures from the game, visit Right Field Fog on Facebook.
Elsewhere
- Right Field Fog commenter Joe Cavanaugh told us earlier in the week that Cotuit’s Adam McCreery, a 6’8 lefty from Arizona State, was throwing 96 in a scrimmage. Last night, he had the results you’d expect. McCreery got the start for the Kettleers and struck out nine in 4.1 scoreless innings. He allowed just two hits and walked only one. That start was part of an overall strong day on the mound for the Kettleers, as four pitchers combined on a 3-0 shutout of the Anglers. Ryan Connolly (Coastal Carolina) got the win with three innings of two-hit ball. James Mannara (Florida Tech) and Dan Slania (Notre Dame) finished it off. Slania, a standout closer with Notre Dame, pitched for the second night in a row and worked 1.2 hitless innings for the save. Offensively, Patrick Biondi (Michigan) had two hits and an RBI to lead Cotuit.
- Orleans got late heroics for the second night in a row and this time they were even later in a 6-5 victory over Y-D. J.T. Riddle tied the game with an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth before Conrad Gregor (Vanderbilt) won it with a single. Mike Montville (Maryland), the hero from opening night, had two more RBI in this one, while Jay Gonzalez (Auburn) went 3-for-5 with two runs scored. The Firebirds also got strong work from their bullpen. After Y-D scored five runs in the first two innings, the tandem of Pat Christensen (La Salle) and Chase Johnson (Cal Poly) didn’t allow another run.
- After an opening night loss to Chatham, Wareham got into the win column with a 6-4 victory over Brewster. Clay Chapman (Florida Southern) got the win after allowing two runs in five innings. The Wareham offense got one RBI from five different players. Dustin DeMuth (Indiana) led the way with three hits and an RBI while Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) hit his second double of the year and had an RBI. Jake Kalish (George Mason) hit a home run for the Whitecaps.
- Bourne and Hyannis traded single runs in five consecutive half innings, but the Braves had the last laugh with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Mike Ahmed (Holy Cross), the brother of former Bourne and UConn star Nick Ahmed, continued a torrid start with an RBI triple to score what proved to be the winning run in the seventh. Ahmed went 4-for-4 after going 2-for-5 on Thursday. Josh Dezse (Ohio State) and Mason Robbins (Southern Miss) had the other RBI for Bourne. Jon Keller (Nebraska) was tremendous on the mound for the Braves, striking out nine, walking nobody and allowing just one hit in five shutout innings. Keller had an ERA over five this spring, so that’s a great start to the summer for him. For Hyannis, Steve Wilkerson (Clemson) went 3-for-4 after a 2-for-3 night on Thursday. He is your current league leader in batting average, along with Falmouth’s Jared King. Also for the Harbor Hawks, Jimmy Hodgskin (Troy) pitched two perfect innings of relief with three strikeouts.
What to Watch
Cotuit will try to stay perfect as it visits Bourne (1-1) at 6 p.m. Mike Ford (Princeton) is slated to go for the Kettleers against Jeff Thompson (Louisville), who was the NECBL’s top prospect last summer.