After seeming to get back on track with a sweep of a home and home series against Brewster late last week, it was a wasted weekend for Chatham. The Anglers dropped an 8-1 decision to Yarmouth-Dennis in an important Eastern division clash on Saturday before being stymied by Bell yesterday.

On Sunday, Harwich and Hyannis played a 15 inning; 5 hour and 13 minute marathon with the Mariners coming out on top, 6-5. Hyannis took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Phil Gosselin (Virginia) singled and Trent Mummey (Auburn) doubled. Mark Gormley (Brown) got Daniel Grovatt (Virginia) to pop to short for the second out. Hyannis went to the bullpen and brought in Sam Houston’s Dallas Gallant. Connor Powers (Mississippi State) greeted Gallant with a double to send the game into extra innings.

The score remained 4-4 into the 14th inning before Hyannis pushed across a run. Harwich came right back in the home half of the inning and tied the game on another two-out hit when Gosselin doubled home Stuart Tapley (Florida State) who had walked to start the inning.

In the 15th, Joe Loftus (Vanderbilt) walked to get things started. He was sacrificed to second and moved to third on a groundout. Bryant’s Jeff Vigurs singled to center to put an end to the longest game of the season.

It was a very long but productive weekend for Harwich. The Mariners beat Wareham 9-7 in a game that took 3 hr. and 15 min. on Saturday night. The two wins bring Harwich to within a game of the .500 mark at 11-12. For Hyannis, this loss followed a 10-2 pounding at the hands of Falmouth on Saturday.

Falmouth can’t seem to find any consistency. They were involved in two high-scoring games over the weekend as they followed up the win over Hyannis by losing 9-2 to Orleans. It was the second nine run outburst in two nights for the Firebirds who beat Brewster 9-4 on Saturday.

With a mix of very strong pitching and solid offensive support, Bourne had won 8 of 9 heading into their game with Brewster yesterday. The Whitecaps were on a three game losing streak. Kyle Blair reversed that trend with an outstanding pitching performance. The righthander from San Diego went the distance and shut down the Braves offense, allowing just 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 12 in a dominating performance. Both of the Braves runs were unearned. For the season, Blair is now 2-0 with a 0.92 ERA in 29.1 innings over 5 starts.

Coming off a sloppy performance in that 9-7 loss to Harwich, Wareham earned a point for the weekend when they played to a 2-2 tie against Y-D. The Gatemen received a strong start from Indiana’s Blake Monar (7.1 IP, 5 H, 1R, 7K’s) and led 2-0 going into the eighth. The Red Sox pulled within one in the eighth and tied it in the ninth when Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) homered to the opposite field off of Texas’ Brandon Workman. One of the Cape League’s stars of the 2008 season, Workman was making his first appearance of the summer. Y-D now has 29 pts., closely followed by Chatham (28 pts.) and Orleans (26 pts.). The Red Sox have played two more games than Chatham and four more than Orleans.

NOTES:   After being hit in the arm by a pitch on Thursday, Y-D’s Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) returned to the Red Sox lineup in a pinch-running capacity yesterday. Wates is tied with Falmouth’s Todd Cunningham (Jacksonville State) for the top spot in average at .385…   Y-D (.259) leads by a wide margin in team batting average over Falmouth and Hyannis (both at .235)…   Not that long ago, Chatham was second in the league in batting. The Anglers are now tied for eighth with Harwich at .210…   Brewster now leads in homeruns with 14, having taken over the top spot from Wareham (13)…   Harwich has only hit 3 homeruns…   Bourne’s pitching staff leads the pack with a 2.57 ERA, followed by Orleans at 2.63…   Bourne’s Stephen Harrold (UNC-Wilmington) has tied Y-D’s Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) for the lead with 6 saves…   Falmouth’s Hunter Morris (Auburn) has 3 homeruns but is struggling with a .189 avg…   Cotuit’s Kevin Patterson (Auburn) also has 3 homers but the 2008 All Star is batting just .177…   Since being released by Chatham, Bourne’s Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) is batting .302…   Wareham is in the midst of a 7 games in 5 days stretch.

Harwich jumped in front in the second inning when Connor Powers hit a rocket into the bleachers, well beyond the left-centerfield fence. The Mariners added to their lead in the third when Anthony Sosnoskie led off with a single and scored on a two-out basehit by Keenan Wiley.

Wareham came right back with three runs in the home half of the inning to take the lead. Derek Dietrich doubled following a lead-off single by Jake Lemmerman. Both runners came home on Ryan Pineda’s double. After Zach Wilson struck out, Brett Eibner lined a ball to leftfield that took a crazy bounce and went over the head of Leon Landry, scoring Pineda.

The Gatemen padded their lead, scoring three more in the fifth. Dietrich, Pineda and Wilson started things with consecutive singles, scoring one run and knocking Harwich starter Rob Gariano out of the game. After inducing a strikeout and a ground out, it looked like reliever Chase Reid might escape further damage but a wild pitch and an infield single plated two more runs for the Gatemen.

Wareham led 6-2 heading into the seventh inning when starter Josh Mueller ran into trouble. A lead-off infield single (on a very liberal official scoring ruling) and a walk brought in Keith Bilodeau from the bullpen. Stuart Tapley greeted Bilodeau with a booming double to close the gap to 6-4. Sosnoskie hit a ground ball that went through the legs of second baseman Shea Vucinich who had just entered the game. That scored Tapley and narrowed the deficit to one. Zach Brewster relieved Bilodeau and his error and a passed ball put runners on second and third. The Mariners erased the lead on a fly ball to center by pinchhitter Marcus Nidiffer that scored Sosnoskie.

Justin Wright took over on the mound for Harwich in the bottom of the seventh. A leadoff single by Eibner and a run-scoring double by Ryan LaMarre put the Gatemen back in front, 7-6.

Wareham’s bullpen couldn’t stand prosperity. Brewster hit Daniel Grovatt with a pitch to start the eighth. Brewster was relieved by David Fischer who threw the ball away on a pickoff attempt, allowing Grovatt to scamper to third. Powers tied the game again with a double to right. Phil Gosselin singled and Tapley walked to load the bases. That was the end of the night for Fischer. Dean Kiekhefer inherited a bases loaded, no out situation. He struck out Sosnoskie but number nine batter, David Herbek flied out to center to score Powers with what proved to be the winning run.

Glenn Troyanowski entered for Harwich in the eighth and he struck out the side. With Troyanowski showing a good mix of fastballs and curves, George Springer, Lemmerman and Dietrich all went down swinging.

The Mariners added an insurance run in the ninth. With two out, Grovatt hit a ball to right and he came all the way around when Springer’s wild throw escaped two Gatemen infielders. Grovatt’s hit was generously scored a double even though Springer bobbled the ball allowing Grovatt to reach second, before the errant throw allowed him to score.

Wareham made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth when Troyanowski walked Vucinich and a bad hop single brought the potential winning run to the plate. Troyanowski struck out LaMarre to end the game.

NOTES:   Wright picked up the win and moved to 1-1 on the season. Fischer took the loss and dropped to 0-2…  Until Powers’ shot, Trent Mummey had Harwich’s only two homers this year…  Harwich entered the game with a .199 team batting average. Wareham was right behind at .197…  Powers hit 5 homeruns while playing for Brewster last year…  Powers and Eibner each had 3 hits…  Very sloppy game for Wareham. They commited 4 errors (officially), had a passed ball, and hit a batter…  The small crowd for a Saturday evening was very quiet. Not a lot of noise from the home fans in this one…  This was the second start for Gariano in six days. He has lasted a total of 5 innings and has given up 16 hits and 11 earned runs in those two starts. He has looked completely overmatched. After earning Pitcher of the Week honors in week two, Gariano has seen his ERA rise to 6.23…  Grovatt is batting .365 and leads the league in OBP at .492…  The Gatemen and Mariners are scheduled to play a doubleheader at Whitehouse Field on Wednesday…  Last night’s game began a stretch of seven games in five days for Wareham…  Harwich hosts Hyannis today at 5:30…  Wareham travels to Y-D for a 5:00 game this afternoon.

The press conference had two key themes.  First, the Red Sox (both the team’s brass and player Mike Lowell) sang the praises of the Cape League.  And the Cape League mostly made a case for why fans will want to buy lots of tickets.

Red Sox Assistant General Manager Ben Cherington (right) said that his team has had an intimate relationship with the Cape League, and that they put more stock in the performance of players coming from the league than any other collegiate league. He recalled his first scouting trip to the league in 200 when he saw Kevin Youkilis (Bourne) play shortstop. He recalled that was a pretty worthwhile scouting trip.

Mike Lowell (Chatham, 1994) joined the press conference and told a poignant story about how he was a weak-hitting second baseman in college until he hit .310 or so in the Cape League.  It gave him the confidence to become the power third baseman he became for the Red Sox.

I was able to ask a couple of questions during the press conference.  I directed my questions to the Red Sox management. I was curious to know two things.  One, what do the Red Sox scouts look for when they scout the summer league that they can’t learn during the regular college season. Second, I wanted to know if they feel the league is a showcase for pitchers or for hitters.

Cherington took both questions from CodBall. He said scouts want to see college players make the transition from aluminum to wood, and they want to see them face the very best college pitching. He described that combination as a “double-whammy.”

“For those hitters that succeed there (on the Cape) they can succeed in the majors,’ Cherington said. “We are trying to find things that translate. There is a strong correlation for us with a strong performance in the Cape League.”

As to whether it’s a hitters league or a pitchers league, Cherington pointed out that there are not a lot of runs scored in the league.

“It’s pitching dominant. So if you are hitting in the Cape League it’s meaningful. The hitters that go there and perform really stand out.”

League President Judy Scarafile said the league has not played a game there in 23 years and she expects there to be a strong showing later this month. She said the game will also be broadcast on NPR and NESN.

“It’s going to be a packed and fun-filled day,” she said.

REMINDER: come to the CodBall pre-game gathering.

In the East, Chatham’s 5-3 win over Brewster allowed the Anglers to keep pace with Y-D. Both teams have 26 pts., but Y-D has played two more games. Orleans was idle and although the Firebirds are 6 pts. behind the leaders, they have played four fewer games than Y-D. By dropping their games yesterday, Brewster (19 pts.) and Harwich (18 pts.) fell further off the pace.

Cotuit is struggling. The Kettleers have lost four in a row and are 1-6-1 in their last eight games. 2008 All-Star Kevin Patterson (Auburn) has 3 homeruns but has struggled to a .196 average. Chris Bisson (Kentucky) and Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina) each have 16 stolen bases but they have been around that figure for awhile. Bisson’s OBP is .286 while Noel sits at .284 so they aren’t getting many opportunities to run. In last night’s 9-1 loss to Y-D, Vanderbilt’s Navery Moore started and did not record an out in the first inning. He walked three and hit a batter. All four eventually scored and Moore saw his ERA skyrocket to 9.82.

The batter who was hit by Moore was Austin Wates (Virginia Tech), who is leading the league in batting with a .385 avg. Wates was hit on an arm and although he scored a run, he was later removed from the game.

In that same game, Y-D’s Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast) moved to 3-1 on the year with six innings of four-hit ball. He struck out eight while walking two. Sale lowered his ERA to 1.06 and he leads the league with 38 strikeouts.

For Hyannis, Seth Rosin (Minnesota), Kevin Moran (Boston College), Mark Gormley (Brown) and Thomas Girdwood (Elon) combined on the four hit shutout of the Mariners. Moran’s pitching line was one of the stranger ones as he issued four walks and gave up a hit in his two innings of work, but still managed to keep Harwich off the board.

Leon Landry (Louisiana State) made his Cape League debut for Harwich after recently arriving from the College World Series. Landry singled and doubled in four trips to the plate.

Falmouth rocked UConn’s Matt Barnes to the tune of 9 hits and 5 runs (4 earned) in his three innings of work. Coming into the game, Barnes had only allowed 5 hits in 13.1 innings. Hunter Morris (Auburn) led off the second inning for the Commodores with his second homerun of the summer. Hunter’s Auburn and Falmouth teammate, Brian Fletcher,  had two more hits to raise his average to .370.

Wareham’s Derek Dietrich (Georgia Tech) was 0-4. As a team, Wareham is batting .197. Some of the Gatemen averages??  George Springer (UConn) .203; Alex Dickerson (Indiana) .193; Brett Eibner (Arkansas) .190; Shea Vucinich (Washington State) .188; Ryan Pineda (Cal St.- Northridge) .186; Ryan LaMarre (Michigan) .182; Jake Lemmerman (Duke) .123; Connor Rowe (Texas) .071 and Tyler Albright (Harvard) .059.

In the Chatham victory over Brewster, the Anglers offense was aided by seven walks and two wild pitches. Half of Chatham’s six hits came consecutively at the start of a  three-run fourth inning. Chatham scored single runs in the sixth and ninth innings without the benefit of a hit.

Baylor’s Logan Verrett pitched five innings of one-hit ball to get the win. In 10.1 innings over two appearances, Verrett has not allowed a run and has only given up 2 hits while striking out 15. He was followed to the mound by Virginia Tech’s Jesse Hahn who gave up just one walk in his two innings. One area of concern for Chatham would seem to be that closer Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) has struggled to pitch clean innings recently. Brewer picked up his fourth save last night, but gave up 2 hits and a run in the process.

Hey, Dennis Eckersley…   you are a Hall of Fame pitcher but as an analyst, puh-leeeze stop with the “that pitch had some hair on it,” “wow, there was some gas,” “good cheese” and “paint” comments. Please! By now, there isn’t a NESN viewer who doesn’t know that as a pitcher you “needed that” when the ball is four inches off the plate.

I know the reported attendance figures are a guess-timate at best, but those are some small crowds in Wareham. Their average attendance (589) is only slightly more than half of what the rest of the league’s average attendance is.

The New England Sports Network (NESN) ran a short segment on the Cape Cod Baseball League after last night’s Red Sox game. The Boston Herald’s Steve Buckley was on “SportsDesk” with host Cole Wright. Buckley is a big supporter of amateur baseball in the area.  

A three game win streak  –  with two of those wins coming against Harwich  -  has allowed the Whitecaps to leapfrog the Mariners and escape the East division cellar.

It has been reported on rivals.com that Brewster’s lefty pitcher Scott Alexander is transferring from D-1 Pepperdine to D-2 Sonoma State.

Sticking with Brewster for a moment, 2005 Whitecap alum Aaron Bates made his major league debut, starting at firstbase for the Red Sox on Monday.

Ryan Cuneo (Delaware) was signed by Hyannis out of the Frank Finn tryout and he is making the most of his opportunity. Cuneo is sixth in the league in batting at .308. He has 2 homeruns and his 13 RBI lead the league.

I have to wonder what the good folks in Cotuit think when they read the “Summer of Baseball” blog. It is written by one of their interns and the author has made mention of some personality traits of Kettleers players. One pitcher’s “personality is severely lacking” and another is described as “unpleasant and borderline rude.” Hmmm…  I’m not saying she is right, or wrong. I just have to wonder what people in the organization think when they read that??

Yarmouth-Dennis’ .247 team batting average leads the league by a pretty wide margin over second place Falmouth (.229).

Chatham is pretty patient at the plate. The Anglers have walked 83 times.

Wareham is last in team average at .199 but the Gatemen lead the league in homeruns with 12. Despite the onslaught of homeruns, outfielder Alex Dickerson, who hit 14 homeruns for Indiana this spring, is still looking for his first with the Gatemen.

Y-D’s Tyler Burgoon is tops in saves with six. The Michigan Wolverine has not given up a run and has allowed just one hit in 12.2 innings over the 9 games that he has appeared in.

Arizona catcher Dan Butler has hooked on with Brewster after he was released by Y-D. Ricky Bowen (RHP; Georgia) was released by Bourne and is now with Cotuit. Brandon Workman (RHP; Texas) is expected to arrive in Wareham today. Workman’s Texas teammates Cameron Rupp (C) and Kevin Keyes (OF) joined Cotuit on Sunday.

Another Longhorn, Connor Rowe, is off to a slow start in Wareham. Rowe has one hit in 12 at-bats.

Harwich has been involved in seven shutouts this year. They are 4-3 in those games.

The Mariners have only two homeruns; both off the bat of Auburn’s Trent Mummey.

The Bourne and Wareham pitching staffs have each given up only 2 homeruns. Cotuit’s pitchers have given up the most hits (144) but Kettleer pitchers have allowed only 3 homeruns.

Highly-touted Rick Oropesa from Southern Cal made his debut with Chatham on Monday. With the Anglers nursing a 2-1 lead over Harwich, Oropesa entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh inning and ripped a triple for a RBI. He later scored what proved to be the winning run in a 4-3 victory.

Elon’s Thomas Girdwood saw his first action of the summer on Saturday and earned the save by pitching a perfect ninth inning as Hyannis beat Y-D, 6-4.

Bourne’s Bryan Morgado (Tennessee), the Pitcher of the Week, has struck out 21 and only issued 3 walks. Braves manager Harvey Shapiro has compared Morgado to former Commodore and major leaguer Eric Milton both in terms of his build and his repertoire of pitches.

Wareham is 4-0 against Hyannis. Bourne has won the first three matchups against the Gatemen.

Brewster and Harwich have already met 5 times with the ‘Caps holding a 3-2 advantage.

Due to rainouts, division rivals Cotuit and Wareham have only met once.

In inter-divisional games, the East leads the West 21-14 with three games ending in ties. 

Go to   http://redblackred.com/falcom/falmouth-mockups.jpg   and let the people in Falmouth know which design you prefer for their baseball card set.

Don’t forget…..   if you are going to the Cape League All-Star game at Fenway on July 23, be sure to stop by and say hello to Greg, Andrew and fellow CodBallers. The CodBall gathering will take place in Field Box 79, down the leftfield line.

My first stop was at the Stony Brook School to see Brewster take on Harwich. The Whitecaps have been scuffling recently. They have been putting up some runs, but have had trouble limiting the opposition. Yesterday, they continued the offensive trend but received adequate pitching and held on for a 7-4 win over the Mariners.

Harwich starter Rob Gariano, last week’s Pitcher of the Week, did not record an out in the second inning. He was hit hard as the Whitecaps scored three in the first inning and two more in the second. In the first, after John Barr lined a single up the middle, Jedd Gyorko crushed a ball over the fence, just to the left of the 375′ sign in left-centerfield. Following that blast, Tant Shepherd singled and Lyle Allen blooped a double just inside the line in left. Shepherd scored on a wild pitch.

After Harwich scored two in the second inning to pull within one, Brewster came back with two more of their own. Dan Butler started things off with a lead-off double. Number nine batter Tim Ferguson lined an RBI double down the leftfield line. Jarrett Parker followed with the third of three consecutive doubles, roping one to the base of the fence at the 385′ marker in centerfield. After an infield single, Gariano was replaced by Florida State’s Geoff Parker. Gariano’s line for the day:  1 IP, 8 hits, 5 runs (all earned). Gariano entered the game with an ERA of 0.73. After his one inning of work yesterday, his ERA is 4.05. 

Parker pitched effectively through the fifth, allowing three hits but no runs.

Meanwhile, Pepperdine lefthander Scott Alexander cruised through seven innings. He hit a bump in the road in the second when Harwich scored two. He allowed an infield hit, walk, and hit a batter to load the bases with no out. Alexander limited the damage by giving up only a fielder’s choice ground ball and a sacrifice fly to score the runs. Alexander pitched seven innings, allowing only those two runs on just two hits, although he did walk six batters.

Brewster put the game away with two runs in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Barr and an RBI single by Gyorko, making the score 7-2. After getting the first two Mariners in the top of the ninth, Whitecaps reliever Eric Jokisch walked the next two batters before giving up three consecutive singles to pull the Mariners within three. With the bases loaded, Phil Gosselin came up as the potential go-ahead run, but Jokisch induced Gosselin to ground to short to end the game.

NOTES:  Brewster’s lineup was already looking good but it has been greatly improved with the recent addition of Parker and Gyorko. Parker played in just his second game yesterday, while Gyorko played in his sixth…  Fresh from the College World Series, Texas’  Shepherd and Stayton Thomas are now with the Whitecaps. Shepherd played in just his second game, while Thomas has yet to see action on the mound…  The first inning damage could have been worse if Gosselin hadn’t made a nice sliding catch in left to rob Parker of a leadoff hit…  Allen went into the game batting just .162 but after a 4 for 4 day, he is now at .244…  Neither has enough plate appearances to be among the league leaders, but Gyorko is batting .455 and Barr is hitting .414…Brewster has climbed to third in the league in batting with a .230 team avg…  Brewster will score runs. Pitching is their question mark as they remain a distant last in team ERA at 4.35…  As a team, Harwich is batting just .202…  Trent Mummey has the Mariners only homerun this year…  Keeping with the spirit of the day, the reported attendance was 1,776…  With the win, the Whitecaps improved to 5-8-3…  Harwich evened their record at 8-8…  The Whitecaps and the Mariners square off again today at Whitehouse Field at 5:30. 

After seeing eleven runs scored at Brewster, Orleans and Chatham took part in a pitchers duel that took an extra inning to decide. The Firebirds edged the Anglers, 1-0. 

The teams matched zeroes until the top of the tenth when Ross Heffley’s line single to right off Chatham reliever Russell Brewer scored Matt Koch. Whit Merrifield made a strong throw home and Chatham catcher Jacob Stallings had the ball in plenty of time to tag out Koch, but Koch jarred the ball loose when he ran into Stallings. Brewer had retired the first two batters in the inning before giving up a double to left to Koch.

Rob Rasmussen pitched seven innings of three-hit ball for the Firebirds. He was followed to the hill by Matt Hiserman and Daniel Ottone. Hiserman picked up the win in his first decision of the year, while Ottone earned his third save.

Chatham wasted a strong effort from Matt Harvey and Jesse Hahn. Harvey went six innings and gave up only three hits; while Hahn allowed just one hit over his three innings of work.

Orleans had six hits while Chatham had five. Rasmussen gave up the only two walks in the game. Obviously neither team had many scoring opportunities. Chatham’s best chance came in the eighth inning when Addison Johnson singled with two out and stole second. Merrifield singled to right and Firebirds’ rightfielder Steve Selsky charged the ball and threw a bullet to catcher Koch. Koch caught the ball and had to wait to tag Johnson who was out by 20 feet on the play. Chatham manager John Schiffner argued that Orleans thirdbaseman Michael Olt impeded Johnson’s progress between second and third, to no avail.

NOTES:  In 13 innings over two starts, Rasmussen has given up only 3 hits and no earned runs. He has struck out 17 while walking only 3…  Orleans’ Alex Hassan had two hits, raising his average to .317…  Selsky entered the game in the seventh inning, replacing Jeremy Gould. Gould appeared to hurt himself in the top half of the inning, diving back to first base when he was picked off by Hahn…  Brewer’s record drops to 2-1…  After a 9-1 start, the Anglers have lost 6 of their last 7 games…  Orleans has won 3 in a row and the Firebirds are now just two points behind Chatham and Y-D…  The same two teams meet tonight at 7:00 at Eldredge Park.

The CodBall team would like to invite Cape League blog readers and fans who attend the All-Star game at Fenway on July 23 to stop by Section Field Box 79 along the left field line.

I’ll be buying  a few beers and hope you might stop by to say hello. Andrew and I will be there, and we hope Dave and Pat can join us as well.

The gates open at 3 pm and the game starts at 7:05.  We’ll be there in our CodBall t-shirts from 5 pm till 6 pm.

I’ve invited the Cape League brass to stop and I have some indication that a few will. So hope the CodBall faithful can make a showing.  Don’t worry if you are an anonymous commenter. We don’t know who you are so just stop by and use whatever name you want!

Wimmers is coming off a very successful season for the Buckeyes. He started 16 games and compiled a record of 9-2 with a 3.27 ERA. Wimmers struck out 136 in 104.2 innings and allowed opposing batters just a .211 avg. Wimmers has been on the Braves roster for some time, but was invited to the Team USA trials.

Segedin entered this season as a preseason All-Conference USA utility player after batting .322 with 6 HR and 59 RBI as a freshman.  In addition to his offensive prowess, he finished the 2008 season as Tulane’s closer. Segedin was redshirted this year due to a “stress reaction” in his ribs after playing just five games for the Green Wave. Despite the limited playing time, Segedin attended the Team USA trials and USA (and Tulane) coach Rick Jones kept Segedin on the squad as an alternate. Due to injuries to some players, Segedin saw playing time in 5 of Team USA’s 6 games and was batting .412 (7 for 17) with a homerun and 7 RBI.

In addition to his 7 HR and 59 RBI, Rice was Coastal Carolina’s second leading hitter this spring with a .368 avg.

Here we are approximately a third of the way through the season. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where we are because of Mother Nature’s fickleness. Wareham has played only 12 games. Yarmouth-Dennis has played 16.

In the East, Chatham has come back to the pack as a result of a recent four game losing streak. Y-D has taken over second place after winning 5 of their last 6 contests. Orleans has evened their record at 7-7 after a 0-4 start to the season. Harwich has won 5 of their last 6 games and the Mariners (7-7) are tied with Orleans. In their last two games, Harwich has beaten Y-D and Brewster, both by a score of 1-0. Inconsistency has hurt Brewster. The Whitecaps are last in the East with a 4-7-3 record. Brewster has not been able to put together back-to-back wins. Their inconsistency has plagued the Whitecaps within individual games, not just over the course of the season. On June 19, Brewster led Cotuit 9-3 in the sixth inning but the Kettleers rallied for 10-9 win. On June 29, the Whitecaps held a 7-2 lead over Chatham before seeing the Anglers come back to tie the game at 8-8. Brewster eventually won 9-8, in a game that was shortened to 8 innings.

In the West, Bourne has been playing well, winning 4 of their last 5, to move into first place with 16 points. The Braves lead Cotuit by one point. The Kettleers haven’t been able to put together a streak of any kind. They have won two in a row twice, but they also have not lost more than two consecutive games. Wareham (6-5-1) sits in third place with 13 points, but they have played two fewer games than Bourne and Cotuit. The Gatemen should be bolstered by the recent addition of Arkansas’ Brett Eibner and Arizona State teammates Jordan Swagerty and Zach Wilson to their active roster. A recent three game losing streak has seen Hyannis fall off the pace. The Mets (5-8) lead last-place Falmouth (4-9-1) by one point.

Although still listed on Cotuit’s active roster, mlb.com is reporting that Clemson lefthander Chris Dwyer was in Kansas City on Tuesday for a tour of Kauffman Stadium and he threw a bullpen session while there. Contract talks have heated up between the Royals and their third round draft pick to the point where it is very unlikely Dwyer will be returning to the Cape. Dwyer made his one appearance for Cotuit a winning one as he pitched five innings of three-hit ball while striking out nine. Cotuit’s pitching looked a lot better on paper awhile ago than it does now. At one time, the Kettleers had Sean Gilmartin (Florida State), Drew Storen (Stanford) and Chance Ruffin (Texas) on their roster. Gilmartin didn’t come to the Cape and was later on the roster of the North Shore Navigators. He is no longer with the NECBL team. Storen was a first-round pick (10th overall) by the Washington Nationals. Ruffin won’t be reporting to Cotuit this year.

He has not appeared in a game yet, but Hyannis recently added North Carolina shortstop Ryan Graepel to their roster. In another move, the Mets have signed Brown’s Mark Gormley to a contract. Gormley, from Milton, MA., is a lefthanded pitcher who was with Brewster earlier this year.

Falmouth’s Ryan Jones (Wichita State) batted .255 for the Commodores last year and finished second in the league with 8 homeruns. After arriving late this year, Jones has gotten off to a slow start, batting just .129 while still looking for his first homerun after nine games.

Chris Bisson (Kentucky) is tied for the league lead in stolen bases with Cotuit teammate Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina). Bisson and Noel have swiped 13 bases but it is going to be difficult for Bisson to maintain that pace as he has seen his batting average plummet to .160.

As expected, there are a few former Cape League “temp” players now playing in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Somewhat surprisingly though, two players who were signed to “permanent” contracts have left their Cape League teams and are also performing in the NECBL.  Infielder Derek Ingui (Franklin Pierce) has left Y-D and is now playing for the Lowell All-Americans. RHP Erik Goeddel (UCLA) is no longer with Brewster. He is now playing for the New Bedford Bay Sox.

Nick Schwaner, IF/OF from the University of New Orleans has been added to Bourne’s roster after being released by Chatham.

Rob Catapano (LHP; Tennessee) has left Orleans after pitching only 2.1 innings over the course of 3 games. Catapano pitched for Orleans in 2007 and had returned after a one year absence.

Speaking of Orleans, despite a 6-7 record, I think they have a pretty good looking lineup. They are only batting .216 as a team but with Gary Brown (CS-Fullerton) and Alex Hassan (Duke) recently arriving, I expect to see more production from the Firebirds. Pitching remains a bit of a question mark, but Hassan’s presence at the back end of the bullpen should help immensely. Hassan picked up the save in his only pitching appearance to date.

Brewster’s league-worst ERA jumped from 4.15 to 4.33 after last night’s game. The good news for the Whitecaps is that the offense came alive in a 9-8 victory over Chatham. The loss was the Anglers fourth in a row. UNC’s Matt Harvey took the loss in his first appearance for Chatham this year. Harvey gave up a hit and walked two batters in one-third of an inning. Harvey is tentatively scheduled to start against Orleans on Saturday. It will be interesting to see how he fares because his stock is falling rapidly in the eyes of some. Although he was 7-2 at UNC this year, Harvey allowed 88 hits and walked 42 in 75 innings.

Wareham is looking much more formidable with the recent additions of Brett Eibner (Arkansas) and Arizona State teammates Zach Wilson and Jordan Swagerty. All three were late arrivals because their teams went deep into the College World Series.

Highly-touted Hunter Morris (Auburn) made his first appearance in a Falmouth uniform last night. Morris was 1 for 4 and had what proved to be the game-winning RBI in the Commodores 4-2 win over Orleans. Morris played for Team USA last summer.