RIGHT FIELD FOG

It was not a good day for baseball yesterday, with rain forcing postponements of four of the five games on the schedule.

But the weather didn’t deter Brewster and Y-D from playing good baseball in the only game that did happen. The Whitecaps and Red Sox both got clean pitching performances and neither team made an error. Two runs in the seventh for Brewster proved to be the difference as the Whitecaps posted a 2-0 victory.

Brandon Love (Mercer) got the win for Brewster with six strong. He struck out five, walked one and allowed only two hits in six scoreless innings.

And the Brewster offense made a winner out of him. Y-D starter Alex Gonzalez (Oral Roberts) didn’t allow a hit until the fourth and was still cruising in the seventh when Brewster pushed through. With a runner on, Taylor Davis (Morehead State) smacked a two-run homer that gave Brewster all the offense it needed.

The Whitecaps are now two points out of first place at 12-9-2. Y-D dropped to 10-12-2.

What to Watch
Game: After playing each other on three consecutive days at the end of June, Hyannis and Cotuit will meet again tonight at 5 p.m. at Lowell Park.
Player: Chris Beck (Georgia Southern) is scheduled to start for Cotuit. He’s been a hard-luck loser several times, but has been impressive all summer.

The Bourne Braves have quietly climbed to the top of the team pitching statistics. They have a league-best 2.08 ERA, eight runs better than the next best team.

I say they’ve done it quietly because there haven’t been a bunch of gems, and if I was picking dominant starters, I would look to Bourne.

But if last night is a sign, then maybe the best is yet to come.

Josh Conway (Coastal Carolina) got the start last night against Wareham and struck out five in seven shutout innings to lead Bourne to a 2-0 win. R.C. Orlan (North Carolina) and R.J. Alvarez (Florida Atlantic) finished it off with a scoreless inning each.

Conway is now 2-0 with a 0.53 ERA. His first start, he went four innings but he shined in his second start last week, allowing just an unearned run in six innings of work.

This time, he let nothing across, while striking out five and walking only one.

Conway doesn’t qualify for the ERA leaderboard yet, but if he did, he’d be near the top. And he’d have plenty of familiar company. Bourne’s Ryan Eades (LSU) leads the league with a 0.45 ERA, reliever Slade Smith (Auburn) is second at 1.00 and starter Chris Pickering (Rhode Island) is fourth at 1.27.

None of those Braves is near the top of the strikeout list. Alavarez checks in at 22nd to lead the Braves. I think that’s why I wouldn’t call them dominant.

But they’ve been great anyway, and they’re keeping Bourne afloat. The Braves have the lowest team batting average in the league. Thanks to the pitching, though, they’re 10-10-2 and tied for second in the West.

As was the case last night, sometimes they don’t need much offense. D.J. Hicks (Central Florida) and Jason Coats (TCU) each drove in runs, giving Bourne a 2-0 lead that proved to be enough.

Elsewhere

Hyannis moved to 16-7 with a 5-1 victory over a hot-hitting Brewster team. b (Clemson) shut the Whitecaps down through seven innings, allowing just a run on five hits and striking out six. Eric Ruth (Winthrop) and Nick Wittgren (Purdue) closed it out. With Brewster sending Tony Buccifero (Michigan State) to the mound against Firth, the game had the makings of a pitchers’ duel. But Hyannis touched Buccifero up for 12 hits in six innings. Eric Stamets (Evansville) and Joey Rickard (Arizona) each had three hits while Zach Vincej (Pepperdine) and Cal Towey (Baylor) had two apiece. Brewster’s defense didn’t help the cause — the Whitecaps made three errors and, as a result, Hyannis had only one RBI for the game.

Orleans took the lead with three in the fifth and watched its bullpen dominate en route to a 4-3 victory over first-place Harwich. A bases-loaded walk, an RBI single by Anthony Gomez (Vanderbilt) and a Jayce Boyd (Florida State) sac fly accounted for the fifth-inning rally. Starter Jason Wheeler (Loyola Marymount) then gave way to Andrew Chafin (Kent State), who allowed two hits in two scoreless frames. Kenny Long (Illinois State) followed with a scoreless inning before Trevor Gott (Kentucky) picked up his league-leading sixth save. Ronnie Shaeffer (UC Irvine) had two hits to lead the Orleans offense, while Ben Waldrip (Jacksonville) hit his league-best fifth home run.

What to Watch
Game: It should be a good one in Orleans as the Firebirds host Hyannis at 7 p.m. The Firebirds have been a little up and down, but they still look like one of the top teams in the East. And Hyannis still looks like the top team in the league.
Player: Kurt Heyer (Arizona) is scheduled to start for Orleans. He’s had one good outing and one bad outing, but nobody on the Cape had a better spring.

This time of year, batting averages are starting to settle in. If you were hot to start, you’ve probably had a little cool streak. It’s the way it goes.

But Brewster’s team batting average is the exception at this point.

The Whitecaps have been the best hitting team for most of the season. It’s staying that way now — and the gap is getting bigger. Brewster leads the league with a .290 team batting average. Hyannis and Cotuit are tied for second at .262.

The .290 mark is almost unheard of in the Cape League. Last year’s top team average was Y-D’s .254. Going back further, the highest average in the last 10 seasons was Y-D’s .278 in 2007. And that team featured Buster Posey and Gordon Beckham.

Brewster’s average will most likely go down at some point, but the Whitecaps have made it this far, and they kept hitting last night.

On their way to a third straight win, they beat Chatham 7-2. They touched up Chatham starter Buck Farmer (Georgia Tech) for five runs and finished the day with 12 hits.

The usual suspects did much of the damage. On various days this summer, three different Whitecaps have held the league lead in batting average: Taylor Davis (Morehead State), Ryan Jones (Michigan State) and Andrew Toles (Tennessee). Davis has it now after going 2-for-3 last night. He’s hitting .371.

Jones took an 0-for-3 last night but he’s still fourth in the league. Toles went 2-for-5 last night and ranks fifth at .346.

The other thing Brewster has going for it is that pretty much everybody else can chip in as well. Seven of the nine players in the lineup last night have a batting average above .300.

With that kind of team, different people are going to step up every night. Last night, Trace Tam Sing (Washington State) hit a home run while Jason Monda (Washington State) went 2-for-4 with a triple.

Of course, Brewster pitchers are happy about all of this. Armed with a lead, Max Garner (Baylor) allowed one earned run in six innings for the win.

The victory keeps Brewster four points back of first-place Harwich.

Elsewhere

A day after beating West leader Hyannis, Harwich impressed again last night with a 9-5 victory over Y-D, one of the three East teams that has stayed on Harwich’s heels. The Mariners finished with 12 hits and five went for extra bases. Jabari Henry (Florida International) and Andrew Rash (Virginia Tech) each hit home runs. John Wooten (East Carolina) went 3-for-4 while Billy Burns (Mercer) went 2-for-5. Kevin Carlow (Brown) got the win in relief as Harwich took the lead in the sixth. Carter Capps (Mt. Olive) pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to keep his ERA at 0.00, while Grant Gordon (Missouri State) pitched a scoreless ninth. For Y-D, Mike Zunino (Florida) made his first start and went 0-for-5 in the cleanup spot.

Hyannis bounced back from its loss to Harwich with a 5-3 victory over Wareham. Adam Brett Walker (Jacksonville) had one of his best nights of the season, going 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. Eric Stamets (Evansville) and Kevin Plawecki (Purdue) had two hits apiece, while Chadd Krist (California) went 3-for-4 in his season debut. Stamets and Cal Towey (Baylor) knocked in runs in the eighth as Hyannis broke a 3-3 tie. Kyle Kraus (Portland) picked up the win with two scoreless innings. Dietrich Enns (Central Michigan) went two innings for the save.

Orleans and Cotuit played to a 5-5 tie at Lowell Park. The teams combined for 24 hits, led by Orleans’ b (Arizona), who went 4-for-5 with two runs scored. Andrew Aplin (Arizona State), Ben Waldrip (Jacksonville State) and Maxx Tissenbaum (Stony Brook) had two hits each for the Firebirds. Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) paced Cotuit with two hits and two RBI, while Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) had two hits and knocked in one. Cotuit tied the game in the eighth on a single by Yarbrough that scored Kevin Mager (Rollins). Mager had reached on a fielder’s choice, and he took second and third on balks.

What to Watch
Game: Brewster will try to stay hot when it visits West-leading Hyannis at 7 p.m.
Player: You could watch any Brewster hitter at this point, but I’d keep an eye on Taylor Davis tonight. He’s gone hitless just once in his last eight games and leads the league in hitting.

Cotuit recently lost seven of nine games and scored a total of 12 runs in those losses. Falmouth started the season 0-7, and in those losses, scored a total of 10 runs.

Offense hasn’t been as much of a problem for those teams lately, and it certainly wasn’t a problem last night.

Cotuit rolled to an 11-2 victory over Bourne — its second in a row since its tough stretch — while Falmouth posted the league’s biggest offensive day of the season with a 15-6 victory over Wareham.

The win by the Kettleers keeps them within striking distance in the West. They’re now two points back of Bourne, who’s in a tie for third place with Wareham.

Cotuit had beaten Falmouth 6-3 on Monday on the strength of 11 hits. The bats were even hotter last night, with the Kettleers delivering a season-high 14 hits and a new season-high in runs.

You could probably guess that Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) was involved, and in fact, he did the most damage. Roache was only three for his last 15 coming into the game, but he went 3-for-3 with a home run, three runs scored and three RBI. The home run ties him for the league lead with four and the RBI total brings him to a league-high 15.

Roache wasn’t the only one chipping in. Ryon Healy (Oregon) also hit a home run and went 2-for-3 with three RBI. Stefan Sabol (Oregon), Kyle Wren (Georgia Tech) and Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) also had two hits. Mike Yastrzemski (Vanderbilt), just in from the College World Series, made his 2011 debut and went 1-for-2.

Kevin Ziomek (Vanderbilt) got the win for the Kettleers.

As for Falmouth, the offensive fireworks were even brighter. The Commodores finished with 15 runs on 21 hits. Their team batting average coming into the game was .217. It’s now .232.

Jack Marder (Oregon) and Jeremy Baltz (St. John’s) each had four hits apiece, while Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State) and Eric Garcia (Missouri) each drove in four runs. Max White (Oklahoma) and Kyle VonTungeln (TCU) drove in two runs each.

The impressive thing is that the Commodores did it against pitchers who have been pretty solid. Brent Suter (Harvard) was the starter and he came in with an ERA of 2.80. Wareham’s relievers have also been good, but no one was immune to Falmouth’s burst.

The Commodores are now alone in second place in the West, pretty amazing considering their 0-7 start. Since then, Falmouth is 11-4.

Elsewhere

First-place teams Harwich and Hyannis met at Whitehouse Field, and it was the Mariners who came out on top, winning 3-2. Tyler Jones (LSU) started and pitched well for Harwich, allowing one earned in 4.2 innings. The bullpen did the rest, and Hyannis stood no chance of a comeback once Harwich got the lead. Chris Overman (NC State) pitched 2.1 hitless innings before Lex Rutledge (Samford) went two scoreless frames for the save. The Mariners took the lead in the seventh on a Luke Voit (Missouri State) RBI double.

Losers of six in a row, Chatham finally stopped the skid with a 3-2 victory over Y-D. The Anglers led most of the way before Y-D tied it at 2-2 in the eight. But Chatham responded in the bottom half, getting a run on an RBI single by Joe Sever (Pepperdine). Zack Jones (San Jose State), who had come out of the bullpen in the top of the eighth, stayed in after Chatham got the lead and picked up the win. Tim Cooney (Wake Forest) and had his best outing of the summer. He struck out eight and didn’t walk anybody in seven shutout innings. For Y-D, first-team All-American and SEC Player of the Year Mike Zunino (Florida) made his Cape League debut and went 1-for-2 after coming on as a pinch-hitter.

Brewster beat Orleans 8-1 to move into a three-way tie for second with the Firebirds and Y-D. The Whitecaps almost matched Falmouth’s hit total, finishing with 18 on the night. Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook) hit his fourth home run, while Ryan Jones (Michigan State) went 3-for-5 to take over the league lead in hitting. J.J. Altobelli (Oregon) and Danny Hayes (Oregon State) also had three hits. Scott Griggs (UCLA) went 5.1 shutout innings for the win. Orleans was limited to three hits.

What to Watch
Game: Falmouth will try to stay hot against a Bourne team that gave up plenty to Cotuit last night. The game is at Falmouth at 7 p.m.
Player: We’ll see if the Commodores even need a big offensive night. League strikeout leader Joe Bircher (Bradley) is scheduled to start for Falmouth.

From the very beginning of the summer, Hyannis has been playing well. The Harbor Hawks won their first three games and five of their first six, serving notice that this year might be different.

Because it’s been a while in Hyannis. The franchise hasn’t finished a season with an above-.500 record since they 2003, when they were still the Mets and they went 21-19-4. They’ve finished in last place the last two years and they won only 14 games last season.

On Monday — Independence Day — the Harbor Hawks celebrated their newfound independence from that past.

Hyannis beat Y-D 4-1 for its 14th win of the summer, the same total it finished with a year ago.

And something tells me they won’t stop there.

The Harbor Hawks are now 14-6 and holding the best record in the league. They’ve won five out of six again after their only brief skid of the season. They have an eight-point cushion in the standings and are the only team in the West with a winning record.

To reach 14, they delivered another strong effort. Hyannis fell behind 1-0 in the top of the third but tied it immediately, took the lead in the fifth and never looked back. Dylan Floro (Cal State Fullerton) allowed nine hits in eight innings but struck out six, didn’t walk anybody and surrendered just one run. The no walks is big for Floro, who previously had walked almost as many as he had struck out.

Nick Wittgren (Purdue) struck out the side in the ninth to pick up his third save.

On the offensive side, Eric Stamets (Evansville) had three hits out of the leadoff spot while Justin Gonzalez (Florida State) went 2-for-4 with a home run. Kevin Plawecki (Purdue) and Cal Towey (Baylor) also had two hits apiece, and Dan Gulbransen (Jacksonville) delivered an RBI.

Hyannis will try to keep the good times rolling today when it visits Harwich in a battle of first-place teams.

Elsewhere

Orleans took care of the fireworks last night with a 12-0 victory over rival Chatham at Veterans Field. Orleans smacked 11 hits and blew the game open in the middle innings, winning for the second straight time while handing Chatham its sixth straight loss. Andrew Aplin (Arizona State) and Jayce Boyd (Florida State) led the attack with three RBI each, and Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) added a home run. Mike Hauschild (Dayton) made his first start after pitching well in relief and didn’t need all the offensive support. He struck out eight and allowed three hits in six shutout innings. Kenny Long (Illinois State) struck out four of the six batters he faced in two innings of relief, and Nick Mutz finished it off with a scoreless ninth.

Bourne also posted a shutout win, this one a 5-0 victory over Wareham. Ryan Eades (LSU) struck out five in six innings for the win before Slade Smith (Auburn) and John Farrell (William & Mary) closed it out. Jason Coats (TCU) led the offense with three hits and two RBI, while Patrick Cantwell (Stony Brook) also had three hits. Travis Jankowski (Stony Brook) also picked up an RBI and now leads the league with 14. For Wareham, John Andreoli (UConn) finally cooled off and went 0-for-4.

Brewster came back from a loss to Harwich on Sunday with a 6-4 victory last night. The Whitecaps led 6-0 before Harwich scored four in the eighth. Brewster reliever Brandon Love (Mercer) put out the fire, though, and J.T. Chargois (Rice) pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the victory. Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook) had a home run and three RBI to lead Brewster. Austin Nola (LSU) had three RBI for Harwich.

North Carolina standout Kent Emanuel made his start for Falmouth and allowed two runs in six innings but was out-dueled by five Cotuit pitchers in a 6-3 Kettleers win. R.J. Fondon (Florida International) went six innings for the win, allowing one run on five hits. Michael Clevinger (Seminole JC) and Bobby Wahl (Ole Miss) each pitched scoreless innings before Falmouth tried mounting a comeback in the ninth with two runs off Trent Daniel (Arkansas). But Mason McVay (Florida International) came on for the final out and the save. Kevin Mager (Rollins) had three RBI to lead the Cotuit attack.

What to Watch
Game: As mentioned above, Hyannis and Harwich get together for a match-up of first-place teams at Whitehouse Field at 7 p.m. The teams have split their first two meetings.
Player: Eric Stamets (Evansville) has been a steady force atop the Hyannis lineup all summer. He leads the team with a .329 batting average.

Wareham’s John Andreoli (UConn) was drafted in the 17th round of this year’s draft by the Chicago Cubs. He’s back for a second summer in Wareham, and if he’s trying to raise his stock, he’s certainly helped his cause the last two nights.

Let’s hope the Cubs were watching.

Starting with Saturday’s game against Hyannis and continuing into last night’s match-up with Bourne, Andreoli has gone seven for his last seven. That’s as hot a stretch as anybody has had this summer, and about as hot as anybody could ever hope to be, I would think.

Andreoli doesn’t qualify for the batting average leaderboard because he’s only played in 10 games, but if he did qualify, he’d be leading by a wide, wide margin. Andreoli was hitting .333 when Saturday’s game began. He’s now hitting .457.

His big nights started innocently enough. Batting second on Saturday, he struck out in the first inning.

Then the streak began.

Andreoli hit singles in all of the rest of his at-bats on Saturday and drove in a run. Last night, he put down a sacrifice bunt in the first inning, so somebody actually did get him out, but since that doesn’t count against him, the streak remained.

And he certainly made it a streak. Andreoli singled in the third, doubled in the fifth and singled again in the seventh to finish off the 3-for-3 night.

While Andreoli hasn’t shown a ton of pop — the double was his first — his hot bat will certainly play for Wareham. He also stole three bases and scored what proved to be the winning run in the 3-2 victory over Bourne last night.

Wareham plays Bourne again today at 4 p.m., so Andreoli won’t be catching anyone by surprise. And he obviously won’t stay this hot.

But it’s been quite a stretch.

Elsewhere

Beyond Andreoli, Wareham’s Josh Turley (Baylor) picked up his second straight victory in the Gatemen win. He went six innings and allowed one run. Josh Urban (Texas), Barrett Astin (Arkansas) and Konner Wade (Arizona) finished it off. Max Muncy (Baylor) and Brandon Thomas (Georgia Tech) each had two hits for Wareham.

Harwich delivered some holiday-weekend dramatics with a 4-3 walk-off victory over Brewster. With the game tied in the ninth, John Wooten (East Carolina) and Keith Werman (Virginia) singled. Ronnie Richardson (Central Florida) then walked to load the bases before Austin Nola (LSU) delivered the game-winner. And Nola made sure he was the one who got it — he fouled off six pitches in a 10-pitch at-bat before lining a single to right. Nola had been in a four-game hitless streak but he had two in this one. Carter Capps (Mt. Olive) got the win in relief with two scoreless innings, which kept his ERA at 0.00. Led Rutledge (Samford) made his debut and struck out two in a scoreless inning.

Y-D cooled off a Hyannis team that had won four straight with a 5-2 victory. The Red Sox themselves have now won three in a row and are just two points back of Harwich for first place in the East. Joey DeNato (Indiana) only struck out two but also surrendered just three hits in 7.2 innings to pick up the win. Matt Reckling (Rice) got a key out in the eighth — a strikeout of Adam Brett Walker (Jacksonville) — before Kyle Hansen (St. John’s) picked up the save. Mason Katz (LSU) drove in three runs to lead the Y-D offense and vaulted to the top of the RBI leaderboard in the process.

Falmouth was out-hit 10-7 but pushed three runs across in the second and never looked back en route to a 3-1 victory over Cotuit. Max White (Oklahoma) had an RBI single and Eric Garcia (Missouri) knocked in two with a double in the second. Sean Hagan (St. John’s) went 4.2 innings and got the win. Tyler Duffey (Rice), Nate Koneski (Holy Cross) and Josh Easley (NC State) combined to allow seven hits in the final 4.1 innings but got out of every bit of trouble to seal the victory. Cotuit was led by Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss), who went 3-for-5 with a home run.

Orleans got three solid pitching performances and did damage offensively with two home runs to beat Chatham 7-3. Ryan Carpenter (Gonzaga) struck out eight and allowed three runs in five innings. Tyler Gebler (Rutgers) and Trevor Gott (Kentucky) came out of the bullpen and allowed no runs. The Firebird offense was led by Jayce Boyd (Florida State) and Ronnie Shaeffer (UC Irvine), who each had two hits and a home run. Matt Roberts (UNC), playing in his second game of the summer, went 3-for-4 with a homer for Chatham. The loss was Chatham’s fifth in a row. Orleans improved to 9-8-2 with the win.

What to Watch
Game: All the same match-ups today. Should be a good one in Hyannis when Y-D comes to town for a 6 p.m. game.
Players: Third-round pick Jack Armstrong (Vanderbilt) is scheduled to make his first start for Y-D. Hyannis counters with Dylan Floro (Cal State Fullerton), who’s been very good so far.

East-leading Harwich had dropped three in a row heading into last night’s game with Chatham. The skid was due in part to the fact that Harwich was falling behind early.

Because when the Mariners get a lead and go to their bullpen, that’s pretty much their perfect formula.

That’s what happened last night as Harwich got back on track with a 6-0 victory over the Anglers. Nick Routt (Mississippi State), who was making his first start, allowed no runs on one hit in 5.2 innings and struck out nine.

With a 1-0 lead that grew to a 6-0 lead in the sixth, the Harwich bullpen went to work. Kevin Carlow (Brown) allowed two hits but pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings. Chris Overman (NC State) and Grant Gordon (Missouri State) then pitched perfect innings to finish it off.

That’s nothing new. Harwich is now 11-7 on the year. In just about all of the wins, the bullpen has played a major role — and often a starring role.

Harwich relievers have pitched 66.1 innings this year and have allowed 10 earned runs. That’s a bullpen ERA of 1.36.

The individual stats are even more impressive. Seven Harwich relievers haven’t allowed any earned runs. The stars include Carlow, Overman and Gordon, as well as Carter Capps (Mt. Olive), Blake Hauser (VCU), and Andrew Leenhouts (Northeastern).

The lesson? If you want to hang with Harwich, you better score early.

Elsewhere

To stick with the Harwich game for a minute, the Mariner offense pounded out 14 hits in the victory. Jabari Henry (Florida International) and Billy Burns (Mercer) had three apiece.

Hyannis picked up its fourth straight win and stopped Wareham’s three-game winning streak with a 9-5 victory. Kevin Plawecki (Purdue) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Adam Brett Walker (Jacksonville) hit his third home run. Austin Elkins (Dallas Baptist) was 3-for-3. Dean McArdle (Stanford) got the start and surrendered three earned runs in five innings. Relievers Eric Ruth (Winthrop), Matt Dermondy (Iowa) and Nick Wittgren (Purdue) finished it off with four scoreless innings, putting Hyannis eight points ahead of the Gatemen. Wareham was led by John Andreoli (UConn), who went 4-for-5 with an RBI. L.J. Mazzilli (UConn) returned from a stint as an alternate for Team USA and had a double.

Cotuit scored two in the top of the ninth to beat Bourne 3-2. Chris Beck (Georgia Southern) looked like he’d be a hard-luck loser for the second game in a row. He allowed just two unearned runs in 7.2 innings. But the Kettleers rallied in the ninth in vintage Cotuit style. Krey Bratsen (Texas A&M) reached base on a dropped third strike, moved to second on a sac bunt, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a squeeze bunt by Logan Vick (Baylor). After Kevin Mager (Rollins) singled, Stefan Sabol (Oregon State) doubled him home with the go-ahead run. The Kettleers had lost nine of 10 coming into the game but are still only five points out of second place.

Y-D scored five in the eighth to beat Falmouth 7-5 for its second straight win. The Commodores led 3-2 going into the eighth when Y-D started pushing. Five walks — two with the bases loaded — and an error paved the way for the five-run burst. Amazingly, Y-D did some of that damage against Falmouth closer John Simms (Rice), who hadn’t allowed a run before last night. He was charged with two unearned runs after relieving Ian Gardeck (Angelina), who was charged with three earned. Mason Katz (LSU) and Anthony Melchionda (Boston College) had two hits each to lead the Y-D offense.

Orleans and Brewster played to a 7-7 tie. Orleans starter Kurt Heyer (Arizona) and his counterpart Jordan John (Oklahoma) were both roughed up early and neither made it past the fourth inning. Orleans took a one-run lead in the seventh but Brewster got an RBI single by J.J. Altobelli (Oregon) in the eighth to tie it. Ryan Jones (Michigan State) and Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook) led the Whitecaps with three hits apiece. Maxx Tissenbaum (Stony Brook) went 3-for-4 with four RBI to lead Orleans.

What to Watch
Game: Orleans and Chatham renew their rivalry for the first time this season with a 7 p.m. game at Eldredge Park.
Player: The scheduled starter for Orleans is Gonzaga’s Ryan Carpenter, a 6’5, 225-pound lefty who was a seventh-round pick of the Rays in the June draft.

Joe Bircher wasn’t on the Falmouth roster when I wrote that preview, and I never know quite as much about the late additions like him.

In Bircher’s case, it’s certainly time to learn. We’re in that part of the season when stars are starting to cement their spots, and Bircher has been one of the brightest.

A junior at Bradley, the 6’4 205-pound lefty posted his fourth very strong start last night in a 4-0 Falmouth win over Brewster. Bircher is now 1-1 with a 1.57 ERA. He leads the league with 31 strikeouts (in 23 innings) and he has amazingly issued just two walks. Opponents are hitting just .169 against him and he’s given up only four earned runs.

Bircher was locked in a pitchers’ duel last night with Brewster’s Tony Buccifero (Michigan State), who’s been great in his own right. He has a 1.48 ERA.

Bircher’s Commodores scored four runs in the ninth to win it, when he was already out of the game. But he certainly set the stage. Bircher struck out six and walked one in seven scoreless innings, surrendering just three hits.

That marks the third straight start that Bircher has allowed one run or less and three hits or less. And last night, he did it against a Brewster team that leads the league in hitting by a pretty wide margin.

Bircher has had summer success before. Last year, he played for the Mat-Su Miners in Alaska and went 6-1 with a league-best 1.29 ERA. He was solid this spring, with a 3.00 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 105 innings, but it looks like summer is the time when he shines brightest.

I think we’ll be watching now.

Elsewhere

Wareham also got a shutout win over Cotuit by a 2-0 score. Justin Amlung (Louisville) allowed just one hit in five innings and Joe Flynn (Franklin Pierce), Daniel Feehan (UConn) and Konner Wade (Arizona) kept it rolling, allowing just two more hits. On the offensive side, Max Muncy (Baylor) drove in both of Wareham’s runs. Kyle Zimmer (San Francisco) was the hard-luck loser for Cotuit. He allowed just one earned run in seven innings.

Y-D jumped into second place and got closer to first-place Harwich with a 4-3 victory over the Mariners. Alex Gonzalez (Oral Roberts) got the win with 5.1 strong innings. He allowed one run on five hits to pick up his first summer victory after a great freshman season. The Y-D offense was led by James Ramsey (Florida State) and Cody Keefer (UCLA), who each had two hits. Matt Reynolds (Arkansas) picked up his 10th RBI. Harwich lost for the third straight time.

It looked like Hyannis had finally cooled off earlier this week when it lost three in a row. But the Harbor Hawks have heated right back up. They won their third straight last night with a 6-1 victory over Chatham. Joey Rickard (Arizona) went 2-for-3 with a double, a triple and two RBI to lead the offense. Justin Gonzalez (Florida State) also had two RBI, while Adam Brett Walker (Jacksonville) had one to bring his total to 10. Scott Firth (Clemson) started for Hyannis and went only 3.1 innings, but Kyle Kraus (Portland) followed with 3.1 scoreless innings before Dietrich Enns (Central Michigan) and Kolt Browder (Baylor) finished it off. Hyannis is now a league-best 12-5.

Bourne moved over .500 with a 5-1 victory over Orleans. Travis Jankowski (Stony Brook) stayed hot for the Braves with two hits and three RBI. He’s had two hits in four of his last six games. Tommy Coyle (North Carolina) also had two hits, while UNC teammate and ACC Freshman of the Year Colin Moran had his first hit of the summer in his second game with Bourne. Josh Conway (Coastal Carolina) went six strong innings for the win, striking out six and allowing just an unearned run.

What to Watch
Game: For whatever reason, it seems like top teams haven’t played each other yet, but that changes tonight when West leader Hyannis hosts second-place Wareham at 7 p.m. Both teams have won three in a row.
Players: Wareham’s Robert Refsnyder (Arizona) has seven hits in his last four games and leads the Gatemen with five extra-base hits. Refsnyder’s Arizona teammate Joey Rickard has been even hotter for Hyannis. Rickard has had two hits in each of his last four games, and five have gone for extra bases.