Wareham and Chatham both swept through their first-round series and kept their win streaks going Wednesday in the first game of the division finals.
The Gatemen beat Falmouth 4-3 for a 1-0 lead in the West finals. Chatham topped Brewster 11-6 to grab the edge in the East finals.
Wareham, the top seed in the West and the top remaining seed in the field, built a lead with a pair of two-run innings then held off a late push by the Commodores. Austin Shenton (Florida International), Ryan Kreidler (UCLA) and Skyler Hunter (Purdue) each had two hits and one RBI, with Kreidler smacking a home run. Isaac Collins (Creighton) also drove in a run.
Zach Hart (Franklin Pierce) gave Wareham a solid start, allowing two runs in six innings and striking out five. Joseph Baran (Lackawanna) carried the torch in relief, surrendering one run in three innings. Falmouth got a run in the eighth on a Matt Wallner (Southern Mississippi) RBI single, but Baran stranded a pair of runners in that frame and in the ninth to seal the win.
Brewster’s Cinderella ride hit its first stop sign as Chatham pounded 13 hits – including five home runs – to ease past the Whitecaps.
Spencer Torkelson (Arizona State) hit two of the home runs, giving him nine in just 28 games with the Anglers. John Rave (Illinois State), Blake Sabol (USC) and Colin Simpson (Oklahoma State) also went deep, with Sabol and Rave totaling three hits on the night.
Brewster hit three home runs of its own but couldn’t keep up with the back-and-forth due largely to dominant relief work by John McMillon (Texas Tech). McMillon didn’t allow a hit in 3.2 scoreless innings and struck out six of the 10 batters he faced.
What to Watch
Chatham visits Brewster at 4 and Wareham heads to Falmouth 6 for game two of the division finals.