"Just win" was the mentality the Hyannis Harbor Hawks had going into a picture-perfect Thursday night at McKeon Park. Head coach Mitch Karraker's club did just that, defeating the Harwich Mariners by a score of 5-2.
The Hawks' (6-4-1) pitching dominated most of the game, shutting out the Mariners (6-5) for the first eight frames of the contest, ensuring things wouldn't get too close.
"I think overall, all facets of the game were much better [Thursday]," Karraker said. "Offensively we took some really good at-bats, and the pitchers threw strikes all night, no errors. It was clean baseball. We're really, really happy with where we're at."
Joseph Dzierwa (Vanderbilt) toed the rubber for Hyannis on Thursday night. The lanky left-hander carved Harwich in his final start of the summer, mixing his slider off his running fastball to net three scoreless innings. Dzierwa scattered four hits and walked a pair, yet got the strikeouts he needed, finishing with a trio of Ks.
The impending Vanderbilt arm finished off his summer with an unbelievable 0.00 ERA across 11 frames, displaying everything needed in terms of being a CCBL frontline starter. He will be missed.
"This experience was super eye-opening to me," Dzierwa mentioned while reflecting on his short year in the CCBL. "My next goal is to carry this over into the SEC. I'm very confident right now and just really thankful for this group of guys and coaches. I've learned a lot with [coach Ray Korn] and am lucky to have him in my corner."
In perhaps the most dominant relief outing of the young season, Aaron Savary (Iowa) was exceptional. The right-handed pitcher earned the win, throwing four scoreless innings. He allowed just four knocks and two walks while striking out a season-high six Mariner batsman to earn praise from his coaches and the crowd.
"Man, after I struck out the side in that first inning, I was feeling real good," Savary said. "I went down 3-0 on that initial batter, and honestly didn't know where the outing was going from there, but once I settled in, I felt great. This win was massive. [Harwich] is a really good team, and, you know, we just took it to them. I'm just happy to help out my teammates."
Savary was pitching backward all night on Thursday, using his plus sweeper to keep Harwich hitters off balance. The Hawkeye pen arm averaged 18 inches of run on the pitch — he then put hitters away using his sinker off it.
"[Savary] came into the dugout after his first inning and told all of us that he was feeling particularly good," Karraker said. "I think anytime you hear that as a coach, you can breathe a sigh of relief. We let him do his thing out there and he was nasty. He pitched some really big innings for us."
In the bottom of the second, the Harbor Hawks offense cashed in with a crooked number, something the team had been searching to hang over their last couple of contests. Mason White (Arizona) and Camden Janik (Illinois) led off the frame with walks, but it was Eric Snow (Auburn) who got the home faithful off their feet when he laced a single into left field for the game's first run. With two outs and two strikes, Kane Kepley (Liberty) was clutch, the pesky on-base machine clocked a ball down the right field line, scoring two more. This gave Hyannis an early 3-0 cushion.
On the other side of it, Harwich went with an interesting starting pitching choice on Thursday, Bryan Arendt, a catcher out of UNC Wilmington was granted the rock. Arendt entered McKeon Park with zero career collegiate innings, yet posed as a real threat — the flamethrower topped 96 mph on the bump in the bottom of the first.
The first frame was all the right-hander chucked. The Mariners used Arendt as an opener, and he provided just that. Despite allowing his first two runners on with free passes, the backstop battled and got himself a double play and a pop-out, bursting the Hawks' early scoring chance.
Stone Cushing (BYU) collected the final six outs for the Harbor Hawks on Thursday night. The hard-throwing right-hander allowed a few runs across the plate on some strung-together Harwich singles, but ultimately he was sharp and slammed the door with no problem.
The Harbor Hawks will travel to Spillane Field on Friday to play the Wareham Gatemen for the second time this week. First pitch is expected at 6 p.m.
Sam Fosberg can be reached at samfozsports@gmail.com and followed on Twitter/X @discussbaseball
