The Harwich Mariners picked up their fourth straight victory in their final meeting with the Cotuit Kettleers on Tuesday evening, a 7-5 win over the top team in the CCBL West Division. The win brings the Mariners to 14-22 on the season and keeps them on the inside of the playoff picture as of Tuesday night, before they finish their season with matchups against each of their CCBL East Division foes.
Up 7-5 going into the ninth inning, Kevin Zarnoch (UMass Lowell) was on the mound in his second inning of relief for Harwich. Zarnoch got a quick first out before allowing back-to-back singles, bringing the game-winning run to the plate.
As has been the theme this season, the Mariners seem to thrive in dramatic finishes, a trend that continued Tuesday night. Zarnoch bore down and diced Easton Winfield with a five-pitch strikeout and then induced a ground ball from Brandon Compton to second base where Cade Kurland (Florida) smoothly made the play to end the game.
“[Zarnoch] was pitching in the Boston Park League and now he’s come down and he’s pitching with the big boys. Good for that kid, really happy for him,” Harwich manager Steve Englert said.
Harwich slugged its way to victory, tallying 13 hits in a top-to-bottom attack on the Cotuit pitching staff, which featured six pitchers. Timely hitting was the key in knocking runs in for the Mariners, an aspect of their game that has been inconsistent throughout parts of the season.
Five Mariners batters contributed to the RBI tally, including the two newest players in town, Aiden Robbins (Seton Hall) and Aden Hill (Maryland). Robbins drove in Kurland in the fourth inning, which tied the game at 1 early on, while Hill drove in Sam McNulty in the sixth to tie the game once again.
Through three games with the Mariners, Robbins is 6-for-13 with four RBI, already making a huge contribution to a team that needed a spark of life.
Cam Maldonado (Northeastern) left the yard for the fifth time this season in the fifth inning, a solo shot that made the game 3-1 at the time. He nearly left the park again in the seventh, but was robbed of a home run by Cotuit right fielder Devin Taylor.
“We got our knocks, [Maldonado] had a big one and just missed another one,” Englert said. “Timely hitting and the pitching has been great, so we’ve just got to keep it rolling here, can’t afford any let backs.”
Although the Harwich pitching staff has had better nights this season, it was effective at shutting down the most dangerous part of the Cotuit lineup, suffocating the 2-5 spots in the Kettleer lineup who went a combined 0-for-15.
Preceding this four-game win streak, the Mariners were in a seven-game losing streak, but Englert has known that the team that has shown up the last four games has been there all season.
“I’ve been saying it all year, we had that really tough stretch, but they played hard, it was almost there,” Englert said. “We just needed to kick the door down a little bit. I love these kids man, they just grind, they play hard every night, they give you an honest effort. I really love coaching this team.”
Harwich has its final off day of the season Wednesday before it takes the field against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in its penultimate home game on Thursday night. First pitch at Whitehouse Field is at 6:30 p.m.