Harwich pitchers struck out nine in a 6-0 shutout of Hyannis on Friday night.
And that’s actually a little low for them.
The Mariner staff leads the league in strikeouts with 142, for a K/9 of 11.6. They have struck out at least five batters in every game and have fanned as many as 15.
Interestingly, while Harwich has the top strikeout pitcher in the league in Team USA bound Logan Allen, they have only two other pitchers in the top 20. So it’s not just one or two guys racking up Ks. Everybody is doing it, a little at a time.
On Friday, it was Connor Sechler (Missouri State) and Will Heflin (Tennessee) doing the honors. After taking a loss in his last start, Sechler struck out six in six scoreless innings, allowing three hits. He’s now second on the team in Ks.
Heflin, despite pitching out of the bullpen, is third on the team in strikeouts after punching out three in his shutout relief appearance. He has yet to allow a run in 8.1 innings.
Harwich’s offense backed the strong pitching with two runs in the second and sixth innings and one each in the third and fifth. Joey Wiemer Jr. (Cincinnati) went 2-for-4 with three RBI to lead the attack.
The win evened Harwich’s record at 7-7.
Brewster 2, Bourne 1
Mason Black (Lehigh) picked up his league-best third win and kept his ERA at 0.00 as Brewster nipped Bourne. The rising sophomore – a highly-touted recruit for Lehigh last year – had previously pitched in long relief. Making his first start, he went 5.2 scoreless innings, scattering four hits and striking out four. Stephen Emanuels (Washington) followed with two shutout innings of relief. Bourne scored a run off Sean Fisher (Maryland) in the ninth, but Fisher buckled down and finished off the win. Christian Molfetta (Stanford) – a rare three-year Cape Leaguer – went 3-for-3 with a home run in his second game back with the Whitecaps.
Y-D 4, Falmouth 3
Don’t look now. The Red Sox are getting hot. Y-D won its fourth straight game and suddenly owns the best record in the East at 8-4-1. Early offense, a tie-breaking rally and strong relief work down the stretch powered the latest win. Noah Campbell (South Carolina) hit his second home run and drove in two. Austin Wells (Arizona) and Riley Tirotta (Dayton) each had two hits and an RBI, with Tirotta’s RBI breaking a tie in the sixth innings. Wyatt Young (Pepperdine) scored two runs. Cullen Kafka (Oregon) earned the win in relief. Brandon Dufault (Northeastern) and Taylor Dollard (Cal Poly) combined for three scoreless innings. In the loss, Falmouth got another big day from Hayden Cantrelle (Louisiana Lafayette), who went 2-for-2 and is hitting a league-best .378.
Wareham 7, Chatham 4
In a rematch of last year’s championship series, Wareham scored four runs in the top of the first inning and built a 7-0 lead en route to a win over Chatham. Braiden Ward (Washington) led off the game with a solo home run. Adrian Del Castillo (Miami) also homered for the Gatemen. Matt McClain (UCLA) chipped in two hits and an RBI. While Chatham got to the Wareham bullpen, college rivals Levi Prater (Oklahoma) and Ben Leeper (Oklahoma State) bookended the game with scoreless outings.
Orleans 10, Cotuit 6
Both teams had double-digit hits, and despite having just one of their 14 go for extra bases, the Firebirds had a little more production behind theirs en route to a slugfest win. Eddie McCabe (Georgetown) went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Matthew Goodheart (Arkansas) was 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Tanner Murray (UC Davis) had two hits and scored two runs. On an unfriendly night for pitchers, Austin Love (North Carolina) earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings, which featured three strikeouts. For Cotuit, Nick Gonzales (New Mexico State) had a huge night, going 4-for-5 with a double, a triple and two RBI.
What to Watch
The teams in the East are all tightly packed in the standings, but there will be some breakouts tonight as Brewster visits Y-D and Orleans heads to Harwich.