The Hyannis Harbor Hawks and Bourne Braves were locked into a pitcher’s duel entering the fourth inning, with Hyannis leading 1-0 after a groundout from Owen Prince scored Brody Briggs in the third.
Once the fourth ended, the Hawks were well on their way to a rout, a convincing end to their three-game losing streak overall and two straight losses against the Braves. Hyannis rolled over Bourne in a 12-0 win Friday night that ended in the seventh inning due to the mercy rule.
Hyannis improved to 13-16-3 with the win, their fifth of July. They jumped back into fourth place in the West Division, sneaking ahead of the Falmouth Commodores after they lost to the Brewster Whitecaps.
The Hawks dominated in all facets of play tonight. They had nine hits and worked eight walks at the plate. They had zero errors in the field. The pitching staff only walked one hitter and limited the baserunners all night. It was a complete game that manager Mitch Karraker has been looking for.
“We talk about having a complete game on both sides of the ball, and we felt like we did that tonight,” said Karraker. “Our defense was really good, ‘Schaff’ made some really nice plays at short. Max gave us an awesome start, and [Chris] Diaz was really good to finish that thing.”
The offensive deluge started when Jake Schaffner was charging for home on a ground ball hit to Bourne pitcher Colin Fisher. He airmailed the throw to the plate, allowing Schaffner to score and make it 2-0 Hawks. After one more run scored on a groundout by Briggs, the madness began.
With the bases packed and two outs, Parker Brosius lined a ball that deflected off new pitcher Jackson Baker, in between Bourne shortstop Ryker Waite and Drew Wyers, and into left field. That, combined with a throwing error by Cal Sefcik, allowed all three runners to score and make it 6-0 Hyannis.
Jayce Dobie, who led off the fourth, came up again in the inning and laced an RBI single to right field to make it 7-0. The bases were soon re-loaded for Lachance, who drove a double to the left field corner, emptying the bases and making it 10-0 before the inning was over.
“I think we had a couple really good two strike hits there,” said Karraker. “That is what we have been asking these guys to do is make adjustments. When you get to two strikes, battle as hard as you can. Tonight, we did a really good job of that.”
The Hawks added one more in the fifth when Jeff Lougee drew a walk with the bases loaded, and Charlie Bates scored in the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Briggs to make it 12-0.
The leader at the plate for the Harbor Hawks was Lachance, serving as the designated hitter a day after being behind the plate in a 11-0 loss to the Cotuit Kettleers. Lachance was a perfect 4-for-4 with three doubles and a single, driving in three runs on the day.
As a DH this season, he is hitting .385 with five extra base hits and four RBIs. On the season, he’s hitting .280 in his six games with the team.
“I knew I could hit here,” said Lachance. “I just kind of needed to get the first [at-bat] out of the way. Obviously, tonight, I just went on a roll.”
Sidewinding left-hander Max Stammel was the starting pitcher for the Hawks tonight. His last start came in a 7-6 loss to the Braves July 16, so he was looking for a better result this time around.
Safe to say, he got it.
Stammel worked five shutout innings to get the win, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out four hitters. Chris Diaz handled the final two innings to lock down the win.
Karraker called Stammel “exactly what we needed tonight.”
Stammel thought his changeup became his best pitch of the night once he landed it in the strike zone.
“I figured out my changeup around the third inning or so,” said Stammel. “I was throwing it for balls early in the game, and then I finally settled in and was throwing it for strikes and getting some weak contact off it.”
Working with a four-pitch mix of a fastball, changeup, slider, and cutter, Stammel felt good about how his pitches played off each other, especially the cutter, which he has been learning how to throw this summer
“[I] felt really good attacking the hitters,” said Stammel. “Got some swing-and-miss, got some foul balls, but the majority of it was just throwing strikes.”
The Hawks will look to string together consecutive wins for the second time this month when they host the Chatham Anglers, who have an identical 13-16-3 record. Tsubasa Tomii gets the start for the Hawks, with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at McKeon Park.
Michael Najarian can be reached at mikenajarian379@gmail.com and on X @MichaelNaj3.
