The Harwich Mariners' losing streak was extended to nine games Sunday evening with their third loss of the season to the Wareham Gatemen, 6-3 at Whitehouse Field. Harwich remains winless in the month of July and has dropped to 9-15 on the season after a 9-6 start, as it now sits in fourth place in the CCBL East Division.
Already leading 4-3 going into the eighth inning, the Gatemen tacked on two insurance runs that took the wind out of the sails of any momentum Harwich had gained.
Sam Tookoian walked the first batter of the inning, but quickly picked up two outs, giving Harwich a clear view of escaping the inning without allowing a run. Eli Putnam came up to bat next and scalded a line drive to right field, straight at Mariners left fielder Cam Maldonado. Maldonado made a dangerous decision to dive at the sinking liner to try to end the inning, but he misjudged the ball and it rolled all the way to the fence, allowing Sam White to come around and score when he likely would have been held up at third base had Maldonado played it conservatively by bellying up the ball.
Putnam made it all the way to third with a triple, and in the next at-bat, a wild pitch allowed him to come in and score easily.
Although the winning run had already come across the plate back in the fourth inning, the two eighth-inning runs certainly made a Harwich comeback much more difficult. The Mariners went down in order in the bottom of the eighth and ninth innings to end the game.
Harwich was within striking distance going into the eighth inning thanks to Maldonado, arguably the hottest hitter in the Mariner lineup. In the bottom of the sixth, Maldonado crushed a two-run double off the fence in left-center field, making the score 4-3 at the time. He extended his RBI total to 16 on the season and has improved his batting average to .281.
Despite allowing two runs in the eighth, Tookoian has his best appearance of the summer Sunday night, striking out six batters in his 3 2/3 innings of work, while only allowing three hits.
The Mariners are back on the field Monday night when they head to Bourne for the final time this season. First pitch at Doran Park is slated for 7 p.m.
