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Still Alive

Gio Brusa and Brewster are four points out of a playoff spot.
Gio Brusa and Brewster are four points out of a playoff spot.

 

With the All-Star Game in the books, the Cape League now very quickly hits its stretch run, with just six days of games before the playoffs begin next Tuesday. While much of the playoff picture is already secure, at least on who will be in it, the first day of the stretch run offered a sign that there may still be some drama for the final spots.

Brewster beat Chatham 12-8 last night to get within four points of the Anglers for the fourth and final playoff spot in the East. And in the West, Wareham inched closer to fourth-place Cotuit with a 3-2 victory over Harwich. The Gatemen are now six points back.

Brewster has now won two straight going back to before the All-Star Game. It beat red-hot Y-D 13-3 and made it 25 runs in two games with the win over Chatham.

Luke Lowery (East Carolina) hit his fifth home run of the summer and knocked in two runs, while John Sansone (Florida State) homered for the second time in the last 10 days. Andrew Lee (Tennessee) added three RBI while Braden Bishop (Washington) went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Scott Kingery (Arizona), one of the hottest hitters in the league, had his ninth multi-hit game in his last 14 games. On the mound, Cody Ponce (Cal Poly Pomona) followed up his eye-catching All-Star Game performance with five solid innings. He struck out six and allowed four runs.

A.J. Murray (Georgia Tech) hit his sixth home run for Chatham, but Brewster had too much with 10 runs in the first five innings.

Wareham hosted East-leading Harwich and got one of its best pitching performances of the summer in a 3-2 victory. Liam O’Sullivan (St. Leo), who was making just his second start after opening the season in the bullpen, went eight innings and allowed just the two runs. He struck out three and scattered five hits. Sean Adler (USC) pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.

O’Sullivan was almost the hard-luck loser, as Harwich took a 2-1 lead in the top of the sixth inning on an Ian Happ (Cincinnati) two-run triple. But Wareham answered right back with two runs in the bottom half. Facing Harwich starter Zack Erwin (Clemson), who struck out eight in 5.2 innings, Nick Halamandaris (California), Kyri Washington (Longwood) and Danny Rosenbaum (Louisville) all singled. John Bormann (Texas-San Antonio) followed with a two-run single to give Wareham all the runs it would need.

 

Hyannis 7, Falmouth 4

Hyannis moved to the verge of clinching a playoff spot with a victory over Falmouth, and they can thank their new ace for setting them on the right path. Marc Brakeman (Stanford), who opened the season in the bullpen, has won two straight starts in dominant fashion. After striking out 11 in six scoreless in his last start, Brakeman struck out nine and went six shutout innings again. He scattered six hits and is now tied for the league lead in strikeouts with 47. He has also walked just seven batters all summer. After Falmouth made a late charge against the Hyannis bullpen, Ian Gibaut (Tulane) closed the door for his second save. Donnie Dewees (North Florida) had three hits to lead the Hyannis offense, while Sam Haggerty (New Mexico) drove in two runs. For Falmouth, Conner Hale (LSU) had three RBI and is tied for the league lead.

 

Y-D 5, Orleans 3

We’re back to a three-way tie atop the East standings after Harwich’s loss and another Y-D victory over Orleans. The Red Sox also beat Orleans last Friday. This time, Cody Poteet (UCLA) – making his final start of the summer – turned in one last gem with eight strong innings. He struck out eight, scattered seven hits and surrendered three runs. Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton) pitched a perfect ninth for his eighth save and his fifth consecutive scoreless outing. The Y-D offense backed the strong pitching with two hits and two RBI each for Nico Giarratano (San Francisco) and Josh Lester (Missouri). A.J. Simcox (Tennessee) added three hits.

 

Bourne 7, Cotuit 1

Bourne snapped a three-game skid and increased its lead in the West to four points with a win over Cotuit. The game was scoreless until the fifth, when Bourne pushed a run across and never looked back. It scored two in the seventh and four in the eighth to pull away. Mark Laird (LSU) went 3-for-5 with an inside-the-park home run and four RBI. Richard Martin Jr. (Florida) added three hits, while Brett Sullivan (Pacific), Blake Davey (Connecticut) and Blake Allemand (Texas A&M) had two hits each. Andrew Sopko (Gonzaga) went five scoreless innings for the win. Lucas Laster (Mississippi State) and John Kuzia (St. John’s) closed it out. For Cotuit, Vincent Fiori (South Carolina) gave up three runs in six innings.

 

What to Watch

It seems like the third or fourth one in the last week, but we have yet another first-place showdown in the East as Harwich visits Orleans. It should be a good pitching match-up, too, with Jon Harris (Missouri State) going for Harwich against Orleans ace Kolton Mahoney (BYU).

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Red Hot Red Sox

Justin Jacome tossed six scoreless innings for his fourth straight win on Thursday.
Justin Jacome tossed six scoreless innings for his fourth straight win on Thursday.

 

When they lost 6-3 to Orleans on June 28, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox fell to 5-11. The next night, they got a quality start from Bryan Bonnell (UNLV) and beat Brewster 9-7.

It was just the beginning.

Y-D has won 16 of 20 games since that loss to Orleans, a stretch that has turned them into a clear contender while highlighting their biggest strength. In each of those 16 wins, Y-D starting pitchers have given up three runs or fewer.

For win No. 16 last night, a Sox starter delivered the usual, with Justin Jacome (UC Santa Barbara) going six scoreless innings as Y-D topped West-leading Bourne 7-0.

Jacome has been one of the leaders of the pitching-driven streak, along with Kevin Duchene (Illinois) and Cody Poteet (UCLA). Jacome has won four starts in a row and is now 5-0 on the year with a 1.28 ERA. In his win streak, he has gone at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in each start.

Duchene has won three of his last four starts and has allowed one earned run in those games. Poteet has also won three of four – and Y-D won the other game when Poteet had a no-decision. Poteet delivered the best start of all on July 11, when he struck out 10 in six scoreless innings against Harwich.

Mix in Michael Murray (Florida Gulf Coast), a spring standout who is still looking to hit his stride, and late arrival Walker Buehler (Vanderbilt), and Y-D clearly has the best starting pitching rotation in the league. The numbers are pretty astounding. In the 16 wins, Y-D starters have gone at least five innings 14 times and have allowed one or zero earned runs 11 times. Oddly, two of the four losses in the span have come in 12-1 and 13-2 games, but apart from those, the pitching has dominated.

Jacome continued the trend against Bourne on Thursday, limiting the Braves to just two hits in his six innings of work. The bullpen – which has been plenty good too – made the shutout stand up, with Parker Bugg (LSU) going two scoreless innings and Dimitri Kourtis (Mercer) finishing off the last inning.

The offense has scored 23 runs in the last three victories and knocked 12 hits in Thursday’s game. Andrew Stevenson (LSU) had three, while Josh Lester (Missouri), Jordan Tarsovich (VMI) and Timothy Wharton (Catawba) knocked in two runs apiece.

Y-D is now 21-15, just two points back of Harwich and Orleans, who are tied for first in the East.

 

Harwich 5, Brewster 3

A night after a loss to Orleans knocked them from first place, the Mariners took advantage of a night off for the Firebirds by beating Brewster to move back into a tie for first place in the East. Robby Kalaf (Florida International) allowed one earned run in five innings and Johnathan Frebis (Middle Tennessee State) shut the door with four scoreless innings of relief. Angelo Amendolare (Jacksonville) had two RBI to lead the offense. Brendon Sanger (Florida Atlantic) and Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) knocked in one run each. For Brewster, Gio Brusa (Pacific) hit his fourth home run.

 

Chatham 4, Hyannis 3

Chatham snapped a four-game skid with a 3-2 victory over Hyannis. Garrett Williams (Oklahoma State), a former top 100 player out of high school, hadn’t pitched more than 3.1 innings in any outing this year, but broke through for six strong frames against the Harbor Hawks. He allowed one run on three hits while striking out three. A.J. Murray (Georgia Tech) and Chris Shaw (Boston College), two of the top three RBI men in the league, knocked in a run apiece, while Nick Collins (Georgetown) also had an RBI. Jordan Hillyer (Kennesaw State), who will start for the East in Sunday’s all-star game, pitched the ninth for Chatham and struck out two for the save.

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Some Things Never Change

Brian Serven puts a tag on a Cotuit runner in Wednesday's game.
Brian Serven puts a tag on a Cotuit runner in Wednesday’s game.

 

The wedding and honeymoon were pretty much perfect. What did I miss?

Two weeks of an eight-week Cape League season is a pretty good chunk of time. I feel like I went on a field trip that not everybody went on, and now that I’m back to school, it’s tough to get my bearings.

Then again, some things don’t seem to be changing.

Bourne continued to dominate the West last night with a 12-4 win over Cotuit, its third in a row. In the East, Harwich and Orleans remain at the top of the standings, although there was finally a change in order with a 4-3 extra-innings win by Orleans last night that put the Firebirds into first place.

Bourne has the best record in the league at 23-11-1. In their current three-game streak, they’ve allowed four runs in each game and have scored plenty more, capped by last night’s win over Cotuit. Samuel Kmiec (Winthrop) delivered a strong start, allowing one run in 5.1 innings. He’s won two starts in a row after a rough start to the season.

The offense backed Kmiec with 15 hits. Richard Martin Jr. (Florida), Blake Allemand (Texas A&M) and Stephen Wrenn (Georgia) led the way with three hits apiece. Allemand and Mark Laird (LSU) each had two RBI.

Over in Harwich, first place in the East finally changed hands, as Orleans beat Harwich 4-3 in 11 innings. The game was tied 2-2 until the Firebirds pushed two runs across in the top of the 11th, one on a wild pitch and the other on a Cole Peragine (Stony Brook) RBI single. Harwich got within a run in the bottom of the 11th on a Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) RBI double, but Orleans reliever Hayden Stone (Vanderbilt) retired two of the league’s best hitters – Anthony Hermelyn (Virginia Tech) and Ian Happ (Cincinnati) – to end the game.

Stone allowed one run in two innings for the win. Bobby Dalbec (Arizona) delivered four huge innings of scoreless relief to keep the game tied. Harwich’s Jacob Evans (Oklahoma) played the same role as Dalbec, with 4.1 scoreless innings.

Orleans is now 21-13-2 while Harwich dropped to 20-13-2.

 

Y-D 8, Chatham 4

One big difference since I last checked in two weeks ago: the Y-D Red Sox. Y-D beat Chatham 8-4 last night for its ninth win in its last 11 games. The Red Sox are now 20-15, just a two points out of second place and four points out of first. A balanced offensive attack led the way against Chatham standout Kyle Davis (USC), with five players knocking two hits each. Davis, typically a reliever, came in with a 1.35 ERA but was touched up for seven runs in four innings. Jesse Jenner (San Diego) had two hits and two RBI to lead the charge. Jordan Tarsovich (VMI) went 2-for-3 for his 12th multi-hit game of the summer. On the mound for Y-D, Cody Poteet (UCLA) allowed two earned runs in five innings. Three relievers combined on four scoreless innings. Chatham got three hits from Nick Collins (Georgetown). The loss was the Anglers’ fourth in a row.

 

Hyannis 3, Wareham 0

Blake Hickman (Iowa) delivered his second consecutive impressive start and Hyannis overcame dominant Wareham pitching to shut out the Gatemen. Hickman had gone seven scoreless innings in his previous start, a 3-0 win over Brewster. This time, he went 6.1 scoreless frames, striking out five and allowing four hits. Ryan Perez (Judson) followed Hickman to the mound and picked up a save with 2.2 shutout innings. Wareham’s Kyle Cody (Kentucky) and Sean Adler (USC) combined for six perfect innings, but Hyannis broke through for three runs in the seventh. John La Prise (Virginia) led the offense with a hit and two RBI.

 

Falmouth 7, Brewster 3

The Commodores remain comfortably in second place in the West after rebounding from a loss to Bourne Tuesday with a win over Brewster. Conner Hale (LSU) hit his fourth home run while Austin Afenir (Oral Roberts) had two hits and three RBI. Jake Madsen (Ohio) added three hits and two RBI. Alex Young (TCU) struck out seven and gave up two runs in five innings. Ryan Moseley (Texas Tech) got the win in relief. Scott Kingery (Arizona) and Luke Lowery (East Carolina) both homered for Falmouth.

 

What to Watch

Three games on tap tonight, including a good one in Yarmouth, where the red-hot Red Sox take on West-leading Bourne.

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Stars and Stripes

Kevin Newman had two hits and a game-tying RBI in his return from Team USA.
Kevin Newman had two hits and a game-tying RBI in his return from Team USA.

 

Most of the players who left Cape Cod for the Team USA trials made the squad. Two players who didn’t get a spot made their returns to the league last night and did their part in the Cape’s patriotic traditions.

In the first game of the annual July 3 and 4 two-game sets, Falmouth’s Kevin Newman (Arizona) had two hits and a game-tying RBI in a win over Cotuit, and Bourne’s Jimmy Herget (South Florida) closed out a victory over Wareham with two scoreless innings of relief.

Newman, the defending Cape League batting champ, went 2-for-4 with an RBI in his last game before the USA trials, on June 18. He picked up exactly where he left off on Thursday, returning to the leadoff spot in the order and going 2-for-4 with an RBI again. The RBI was a big one, too. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and his team trailing 2-1, Newman smacked a single to score Sam Gillikin (Auburn) with the tying run.

Falmouth then won the game 3-2 in the 10th on a bases-loaded walk to Jake Madsen (Ohio).

Gillikin and Steven Duggar (Clemson) joined Newman with two hits apiece. Garrett Cleavinger (Oregon) got the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Starter Casey Mulholland (South Florida) allowed just an unearned run. He owns two straight starts now without an earned run allowed.

For Herget, the return to the Cape wasn’t quite so dramatic, but he gives first-place Bourne an unquestioned boost, and the Braves used it to finish off their 14-6 victory. Herget struck out three and allowed one hit in two scoreless innings. Brett Morales (Florida) got the win for the Braves with three scoreless innings of relief.

Bourne trailed 6-3 after four innings, but the offense broke out and made the shutout work of Morales and Herget count. Bourne scored 10 runs in the final four innings to blow the game open.

Mark Laird (LSU) finished with two hits and four RBI, Brett Sullivan (Pacific) had three hits and two RBI and Billy Fleming (West Virginia) had two hits and two RBI.

Bourne has won two in a row since a three-game losing streak.

 

Y-D 8, Hyannis 2

Y-D topped Hyannis for its fourth straight victory and continued an offensive surge. In three of the victories, Y-D has scored eight runs. In the other, nine runs. The Red Sox are now 9-11 while Hyannis dropped to 10-10. Hunter Cole (Georgia) led the offense with three hits and three RBI, giving him eight hits in the win streak. Rob Fonseca (Northeastern), A.J. Simcox (Tennessee), Josh Lester (Missouri) and Andrew Stevenson (LSU) had two hits each. On the mound, Cody Poteet (UCLA) allowed one run in five innings, a nice rebound after he gave up five runs in his previous start. Y-D has now gotten at least five innings from its starter in three of the victories in the streak. For Hyannis, John LaPrise (Virginia) went 3-for-3 in his second game since arriving from the College World Series.

 

Chatham 9, Orleans 7

Chatham stopped Orleans’ six-game winning streak with a late rally. Just when it seemed like the Firebirds would keep that streak going after tying the game with two runs in the top of the eighth, the Anglers answered with two in the bottom of the eighth on a Landon Cray (Seattle) RBI double and a Ty Moore (UCLA) RBI single. Kyle Davis (USC), who had allowed the home run that tied the game, then worked around a double to pitch a scoreless ninth and seal the win. Moore and Cray led the offense with two hits and two RBI, while Chris Shaw (Boston College) hit his fourth homer of the year. A.J. Murray (Georgia Tech) had two hits to stretch his hitting streak to nine games. It’s also now an eight-game streak of at least two hits. For Orleans, Johnny Sewald (Arizona) homered. David Thompson (Miami) and Brett Lang (UNC-Charlotte) had three hits each.

 

Harwich 10, Brewster 5

Harwich raced to a 7-0 lead and got another solid performance from a starting pitcher in a victory over Brewster. Michael Boyle (Radford) allowed three runs in six innings of work with eight strikeouts. Brewster hit two home runs off him, but the eight strikeouts were also a season-high for Boyle, who has a 1.56 ERA. The Harwich offense was led by four RBI each from Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) and C.J. Hinojosa (Texas). Annunziata homered. Kyle Barrett (Kentucky) added three hits and three runs scored from the top of the lineup. Luke Lowery (East Carolina) and Scott Kingery (Arizona) had the Brewster home runs.

 

What to Watch

With Arthur bearing down, the Cape may not have any Fourth of July baseball this year, although games are still on as of this morning.