The Hyannis Harbor Hawks won their Opening Day matchup, 7-2, against the Wareham Gatemen with a dominant defensive showing Saturday. In a five-pitcher effort for the Harbor Hawks (1-0), they allowed only five hits, two walks, zero earned runs and combined for 11 strikeouts.

Wil Libbert started the cascade of exceptional pitching performances as Hyannis’ starter. The rising redshirt junior from the University of Missouri shoved for four innings, allowing four hits, zero walks and striking out six Gatemen (0-1) batters.

“Our starters are the ones that set the tone and so (Libbert) did a really good job of doing that,” manager Mitch Karraker said.

The only run that scored under Libbert’s watch was put in scoring position on an error made by the southpaw. Hayden Yost hit a soft ground ball to the third-base side of the mound, where Libbert snagged the roller, then skied a throw over the head of first baseman Myles Bailey.

Yost advanced to second base on the play, but Libbert didn’t allow this to rattle him. The left-hander struck out the next two batters he faced to put pressure on the Wareham offense to not strand a runner in scoring position. Ty Dalley responded to this pressure with a game-tying double into the right-field corner.

Vahn Lackey ended the inning for the Harbor Hawks as he caught Dalley attempting to take third on a passed ball.

After escaping the third-inning jam with the score evened up, Libbert closed his outing with a bang in the fourth inning. After allowing a leadoff single, the Hyannis battery put together a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play. Chase Krewson waved and missed in a full count and Lackey nailed Colby Turner attempting to take second base, much to the liking of the Harbor Hawk fans visiting Clem Spillane Field.

Lackey, along with his incredible ability to throw out runners, was incredibly reliable as a backstop to many new battery mates.

“(Lackey is) great back there,” Libbert said. “(I) felt comfortable just throwing stuff in the dirt and really burying it, and I knew he was (going to) just get back there and block it so, I mean, that’s about all you can ask out of a guy.”

Libbert exited after four innings, but the level of execution from Hyannis’ pitching did not waver. The visiting bullpen totaled five innings while allowing one hit, two walks and no earned runs.

“Any time we come out (for our) first week, first outing, we expect some nerves, and I feel like our guys were in complete control. They did a really good job,” Karraker said. “It just showed how good our club can be.”

Tommy O’Rourke in particular put together an excellent pair of innings in relief, earning the win after a Harbor Hawks offensive explosion in the eighth.

The right-hander from Vanderbilt made his first appearance with Hyannis since 2020. A back injury set O’Rourke back for multiple seasons before returning to form as part of the Commodores’ bullpen this past season.

In his first inning of work, O’Rourke set down three straight batters, striking out two. In his second inning, the extended reliever worked around a walk, passed ball and hit batter that posed a scoring threat for the Gatemen.

A pop out to third base and a groundout to shortstop put an end to that threat as O’Rourke stayed steady through the challenge.

Erik Hoffberg pitched the fifth inning, intermitting between Libbert and O’Rourke. The Gonzaga right-hander hit the first batter he faced but then set the next three down in a row, including two strikeouts.

After the scoring outburst in the top of the eighth inning for the Harbor Hawks, Carson Jasa took the bump for the visitors.

Jasa induced weak contact throughout the inning, letting the defense work behind him to maintain the freshly built lead.

Eddie Copper III came in to close the contest with a cushiony 7-1 lead. The right-hander started off his outing with a strikeout, followed by a throwing error from third baseman Ray Velazquez. This allowed Adam Agresti to reach base safely before stealing second and moving up to third on a ground ball. Shamaar McDuffie knocked in Agresti with a burning double down the first-base line. This was Wareham’s first hit since the fourth inning, putting an end to the Hyannis bullpen’s reign of producing weak contact.

Yost fired a hard line drive into right field the next at-bat, but it was directly into the glove of Andrew Williamson, putting the final seal on the Harbor Hawks’ Opening Day victory.

From the dominance of Libbert’s start to the indomitable relief effort from the bullpen, Hyannis’ pitching staff dominated Opening Day.

The Harbor Hawks look to continue this quality of pitching in their home opener against the Harwich Mariners at 6 p.m. Sunday.