After beating the Orleans Firebirds on Friday night, Harwich Mariners pitcher Christian Rodriguez declared, “Don’t count out the Mariners, ever.”
Those words were put to the test Saturday afternoon at Stony Brook Field against the Brewster Whitecaps. In his first start, pitcher Cohen Feser struggled to string outs together. The Whitecaps scored five runs in just two innings off the righty from TCU.
In the third, the Mariners committed two errors as pitcher Parker Dillhoff made his summer debut for the Mariners. By the end of the inning, the Mariners had three errors and were down, 7-3.
Harwich was undeterred by the slow start. The team took advantage of poor pitching from the Whitecaps to score six runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead. The Mariners' bullpen combined gave up just one run in the final six innings to secure the 9-8 win.
“We’re on a hot streak,” Harwich first base coach Kyle Sylvester said. “Five straight feels good heading into the last week of the season.”
The combination of patience and timely hitting fueled the Harwich rally off a trio of Brewster pitchers.
The first three batters all drew walks against Andrelys Payamps. Payamps threw a single pitch, a ball, against cleanup hitter Maddox Molony before getting pulled for Tyler Hartley.
“At that point it's just a new AB,” Molony said. "And I had the advantage."
Molony laced a deep fly ball to left field. Left fielder Brody DeLamielleure ran back to the track as he missed the ball, allowing two runs to score and give Molony the double.
Catcher Matt Conte followed with an RBI single to make the score 7-6.
Now standing at third base, Molony would score the game after an error on a double play attempt by the Whitecaps, allowing batter Niko Brini to get to second base.
Representing the lead run, Brini put on a baserunning masterclass. He advanced to third on a ground ball to shortstop, and then scored on a wild pitch to give Harwich the lead.
The Mariners tacked on another run on an RBI double from Bristol Carter. The outfielder led the Mariners with three hits on the day.
Now with the lead, the Mariners' pitching staff was tasked with keeping it. The bullpen managed to mostly keep the Whitecaps at bay.
Reliever Adam Arther ran into trouble in the eighth inning. After giving up a run, the lefty was pulled with the bases loaded with just one out.
With a chance to take sole possession of first place, field manager Steve Englert took no chances and called on the steady Thomas Shurtleff to pitch.
The Medfield native needed just one pitch to preserve the lead. Facing DeLamielleure, he got the outfielder to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and fire up the Mariners' bench.
“That was huge,” Sylvester said. “He came in and got the double play. Then he shut them down in the ninth.”
Moving forward
Harwich closes out its seven games in seven days stretch Sunday against the Y-D Red Sox. First pitch is at 5:30 p.m. It is also Bark in the Park Day at Whitehouse Field. Fans can bring their four-legged friends along to cheer on the Mariners.
