Yarmouth-Dennis hitters have been very good at not striking out this summer. The Red Sox have the fewest in the league.
But you wouldn’t have guessed that Saturday.
Chatham’s Alek Manoah (West Virginia) and Jeff Belge (St. John’s), two of the top strikeout pitchers in the league, had the Red Sox swinging and missing as good pitching beat good hitting in a 7-3 Anglers victory.
Manoah struck out 12 and Belge fanned seven. That’s 19 of 27 outs via the strikeout.
Manoah has emerged as a classic power pitcher in a summer that has kind of been missing an ace. Joey Matulovich left Wareham to sign, John Baker departed Cotuit early, Graeme Stinson had a short stint in Orleans. Tyler Baum, Austin Bergner and Mitchell Senger were late arrivals. The ERA leaderboard features only eight qualified players and is topped by a reliever.
Manoah was part of the trend early, going four innings or fewer in three of his first four starts. But on July 14 against Harwich, he struck out 11 in six innings.
And he was just as good Saturday.
Manoah went six innings again and allowed two runs on six hits. He fanned 12 of the 24 batters he faced and now leads the league with 42 strikeouts in 28.1 innings pitched.
When Manoah departed, Chatham turned to its other strikeout artist. Belge has made three starts and four relief appearances and he’s had strikeout stuff in all of them. This time, he K’d seven of the 13 batters who stepped in for a three-inning save. Belge ranks third in the league in strikeouts with 37.
On the other side, Chatham’s big swings netted big hits. Michael Busch (North Carolina) homered twice, his third and fourth of the season. Tristin English (Georgia Tech) hit his fifth home run and had three RBI.
Chatham has won three in a row and is four points ahead of Harwich for second place in the East, six points back of Y-D.
Cotuit 4, Wareham 3
A day after losing a one-run heartbreaker to Chatham, Cotuit won a one-run thriller over Wareham in 10 innings. The Kettleers forced extras with two runs in the eighth on a two-run homer by Garrett Wolforth (Dallas Baptist), then scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th. Peyton Burdick (Wright State) was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and raced home on an RBI single by Jonathan Robertson (Creighton). Stephen Schoch (UMBC), who had pitched a scoreless ninth after Cotuit tied it, did the same in the bottom of the 10th to seal the win. Schoch lowered his ERA to 0.51.
Falmouth 5, Hyannis 3
Falmouth toppled first-place Hyannis, winning for the fifth time in its last six games. Tyler Dyson (Florida) allowed two runs in five innings for his third consecutive strong start since a late arrival from Omaha. Jack Little (Stanford) struck out the side in the ninth to record the save. Davis Sims (Murray State) drove in two runs, while Maverick Handley (Stanford) and Hayden Cantrelle (Louisiana-Lafayette) knocked in one each. Falmouth is 18-15-1, good for third place behind the Harbor Hawks and Wareham. For Hyannis, Matthew Barefoot (Campbell) came back with a 1-for-4 the day after his 22-game hitting streak ended.
Harwich 8, Orleans 5
Harwich racked up three runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth to pull away from Orleans. Brad Debo (NC State) went 1-for-3 with four RBI to lead the Mariners. Logan Driscoll (George Mason) went 3-for-4 with two runs driven in. Nate Eikhoff (Virginia) added two hits. On the mound, Danny Poidomani (Stevens) allowed two runs in five innings for the win. George Kirby (Elon) earned his second save. The Firebirds have lost five in a row and have been dealt another blow with league home run leader Nick Osborne (Tennessee Tech) departing to sign a pro contract with Oakland.
Bourne 5, Brewster 1
In a battle of last-place teams that remain in the playoff mix, Bourne rode strong pitching to a win over Brewster. Trey Benton (East Carolina) went four scoreless innings and Mike Ruff (Florida Atlantic) earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief. Nick Morreale (Georgetown) and Michael McAvene (Louisville) finished it off. Lyle Lin (Arizona State) had two hits and three RBI to lead the Braves’ offense. Anthony Prato (UConn) went 3-for-4 and scored two runs.
What to Watch
Weather permitting, the Cape League All-Star Game is set for tonight at 6 p.m. in Harwich.