Before their game on June 29, the Harwich Mariners had a team ERA of 3.33.
It’s gone down a bit.
In the three games since, the Mariners haven’t allowed a run. Yes, that’s three consecutive shutouts. They beat Chatham 6-0 last night after 1-0 wins on Monday and Tuesday. That team ERA? Down to 2.54. For a team that at one point had been shut-out three times in four games, this is a nice little trend.
It’s also one of the more impressive feats of the summer, made better by how it started. On June 29, the Mariners didn’t just shut out the Y-D Red Sox, they shut them out for 13 innings. Three pitchers combined to allow just four hits.
I don’t know if that inspired the Harwich pitching staff or what, but something has clicked. With last night’s game tacked on, the Mariners have a scoreless streak of 31 innings. It stretches back even further if you add on the three scoreless innings at the end of Sunday’s win over Bourne.
And everybody is in on it. This isn’t like a Major League Baseball playoff series involving a team with a good bullpen getting to the sixth and turning out the lights. Ten different pitchers have seen action during the streak.
The starters have of course had their say. Aaron Meade (Missouri State) delivered the best performance, striking out 12 in seven shutout innings on Tuesday. Against Y-D, Mike Gipson (Florida Atlantic) allowed two hits in seven shutout innings of his own. Brett Bruening (Grayson CC) got the start last night and went 3.1 innings.
The bullpen performances have been perhaps more impressive. In that first game, Geoff Parker (Florida State) struck out five and didn’t allow a hit in three innings. Matthew Price (Virginia Tech) finished it off by surrendering just two hits in three innings.
In relief of Meade on Tuesday, Les Williams (Northeastern) and Glen Troyanowski (Florida Atlantic) worked two scoreless frames, and last night, four pitchers combined to hold Chatham without a hit over the final 5.2 innings. Chase Reid (Vanderbilt) struck out five in 2.2 innings, while Garrett Davis (North Carolina), Brian Dupra (Notre Dame) and Troyanowski finished it off.
All in all, that’s 10 pitchers allowing no runs on 14 hits in 31 innings.
Crazy.
And on top of all that, the Mariners also had a little offense last night, getting two RBI from Connor Powers (Mississippi State), Dan Grovatt (Virginia) and Marcus Niddifer (Kentucky).
Elsewhere
What to Watch For Tonight
Harwich will try to keep its streak going with a game at Brewster. Rob Gariano (Fairfield) and his 0.79 ERA will be on the hill.
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