On paper, they shaped up as the league’s best team, and on June 12, the Wareham Gatemen looked the part. With a lineup that included college baseball’s Golden Spikes Award winner and with a veteran pitcher on the hill, they scored three runs in the first inning of the summer, tacked on two more in the middle innings and broke away with seven in the ninth for a 12-4 opening night win at Chatham.
The Gatemen looked the part again and again all summer. They started the season with four straight wins. They never lost more than two games in a row. They scored the most runs in the league. They allowed the second fewest. They owned the league’s best fielding percentage. Even as their roster changed, they held off challenges from two other strong teams in their division, closing with four wins in their last six games. They rolled through the early rounds of the playoffs.
And two months after opening night, on the same field, the Wareham Gatemen looked the part one last time.
Wareham beat Chatham 9-3 in game two of the Cape League championship series Monday at Veterans Field to sweep the title series and clinch its first crown since 2012. The Gatemen became the first team to go unbeaten in the playoffs since the postseason expanded in 2010.
It was the perfect culmination for the best.
Recent Cape League history has been marked by unpredictability – playoff hot streaks and Cinderella runs and the best teams coming up just a little short. A No. 1 seed hadn’t won the title since Bourne in 2009. Y-D’s penchant for playoff success stood in the way for a number of top squads. Brewster went on a wild ride last year, playing the maximum number of games en route to a surprise title.
Wareham played the fewest possible games. They were the best and they were on a hot streak.
The postseason run began with a sweep of Cotuit. A talented Falmouth team that had gotten hot in the second half battled in a pair of close games but fell short.
Chatham emerged from the East, perfect in the playoffs in its own right, but it was Wareham that kept rolling, winning 5-3 in the series opener.
Sunday, the Gatemen faced a difficult task. Chatham was hosting a championship series game for the first time since 2001, and a crowd announced at 7,552 packed in to watch. That number might have been a bit of an exaggeration, but the crowd was huge regardless. The Anglers even had the familiar fog on their side – it came and went and always seemed to get a little bit thicker when the Gatemen were in the field.
But none of it mattered.
Wareham fell behind 1-0 in the first inning but scored two runs in the third and never trailed again. Austin Shenton (Florida International) knocked in the go-ahead runs, continuing a remarkable playoff showing in which he came to the plate in a ton of big spots and always seemed to deliver.
Drew Millas (Missouri State) tripled and scored on a Lael Lockhart (Houston) single in the fourth. The same combo struck again in the sixth.
Pitching and defense were on target, too. Derek West (Pittsburgh) allowed one run in five innings. The Gatemen didn’t make an error and delivered highlights in between. Isaac Collins (Creighton) robbed a home run in right field. Twenty feet away, the Wareham bullpen celebrated as if the catch had clinched the title.
The fog gave Chatham a stay of execution, coming in thick in the sixth inning and forcing the game to be suspended. When it resumed Monday afternoon, the Anglers seemed rejuvenated. Three straight singles and an RBI groundout made it a 4-2 game.
But reliever Zach Hart (Franklin Pierce) worked out of trouble, stranding two on base. Shenton – of course – got the run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI single. Colin Simpson (Oklahoma State) homered in the bottom of the seventh for Chatham, but Hart again settled down. After he pitched a scoreless eight, Wareham broke the game open with four runs in the ninth. Millas and Gian Martellini (Boston College) each had two-run doubles.
After that, the Gatemen could taste it. Hart worked a scoreless ninth, striking out one of the league’s best talents – Spencer Torkelson – to clinch the win for the league’s best team.
Shenton was an easy choice for MVP. His breakout summer concluded with an incredible six-game playoff ride. He batted .522 with three home runs and 12 RBI in the postseason.
There were plenty of other heroes. Collins hit .370 in the playoffs to go with his SportsCenter-worthy catch. Millas and Lockhart had huge performances in the clincher with three hits each. The double-play combo of Ryan Kreidler (UCLA) and Oliver Dunn (Utah) played flawless defense and had one hit apiece in game two.
West – the winning pitcher – didn’t make his first appearance with Wareham until July 14. Hart – the guy who finished it off – pitched mostly in short relief all summer. When the Gatemen needed him for more, he responded, going 15 innings in his last three outings.
It was fitting that players like West and Hart got it done. As much as Wareham looked like the league’s best all year, it was not all a smooth ride. That most talented team on paper? Check out the season preview from June. The “Five Players to Watch” category included exactly zero players who were in Monday’s dogpile. The Golden Spikes winner, Andrew Vaughn, left for Team USA, along with several others. The veteran pitcher from opening night, Joey Matulovich, pitched like an ace – then signed a pro contract.
But the core and the vibe remained good enough to keep Wareham rolling.
The best stayed the best, all summer long.
