It was a new day for the Harwich Mariners, but the same story that they've faced for the last week, as they fell for the fifth straight time on Tuesday night, 8-7 at the hands of the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. After a heartbreaker in Chatham on Sunday night, the day off Monday wasn't enough for the Mariners to completely reset, as they've now dropped to 9-11 on the season after starting 6-3.
Trailing by just two runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning, Harwich had all of the momentum on its side after it rallied for two runs in the eighth to cut the deficit to 8-6 after trailing for most of the evening.
The inning got off to an ideal start, as Sam McNulty (Boston College) drew a walk to bring the game-tying run to the plate in Bristol Carter (Auburn). Carter grounded into a fielder's choice, using his speed to evade the double play and keep the Mariners' chances alive.
Next up was Cade Kurland (Florida), who executed a hit-and-run along with the speedy Carter to perfection, placing runners on first and third with just one out.
All of a sudden, a game that seemed like a lost cause was turned on its head with one of Harwich's hottest batters, Ryan Weingartner (Penn State), coming up to the plate.
Weingartner crushed a fly ball to center field that he just missed making perfect contact with, but it was plenty deep enough to score Carter from third.
With two outs and the game on the line, it was now up to the hottest batter in the Mariners' lineup, Matt Scannell (Princeton), to keep the night alive for Harwich.
With his back against the wall in a 2-2 count, Scannell hit virtually the exact same fly ball as Weingartner, high into the pitch-black night sky at Whitehouse Field, but this time with two outs, Hyannis center fielder Kane Kepley was able to easily bring the ball in and end the game.
A six-run second inning for Hyannis put the Mariners behind the 8-ball from the get-go. Hyannis batted around the order and logged six hits in its rally, chasing Harwich starter Ryan DeSanto (Penn State) out of the game after two innings, his shortest outing of the season.
After a shaky first couple of outings to start the season, Jack Bowery (Northeastern) was strong out of the bullpen, patching up the errs of of the first two innings over his five innings of relief. His only two runs allowed came after a fluky two-out infield single allowed the sixth inning to continue when he should have been out of it. He finished the day with three K's.
Cam Maldonado (Northeastern) continued to rake for Harwich, ripping his first home run of the campaign in the eighth inning, a two-run shot that made the game 8-6 at the time and put the Mariners within striking distance going into the ninth.
Scannell drove in three of the seven Harwich runs, bringing his RBI total to seven in his last three games. He finished the day 2-for-4 and is back on track after he was in a slump to start the season.
The Mariners will look to end their skid Wednesday night when they travel east to take on Orleans, who they have gone 2-0 against this season. First pitch at Eldredge Park is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
