As much as people may want them to, baseball seasons can't last forever. That statement fell true on Tuesday night for first-year head coach Mitch Karraker and the 2024 Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
The West regular season champions found themselves in a matchup against their kryptonite in Round 1 of the playoffs versus the Bourne Braves. Hyannis (0-1) entered McKeon Park winless in opposition to the defending back-to-back champions this summer and once again came up short in a 5-1 loss against the Braves (1-0).
"Hats off to [Bourne]," Karraker said. "They pitched really well... they threw some really good pitchers against us... and they executed better than we did. We kind of nibbled early, walked some guys, and then got behind in counts. So hopefully we can learn from that moving forward going into the playoffs next year."
The Harbor Hawks boasted an impeccable 16-3 home record during the regular season, but in a winner-take-all game like Tuesday was, all statistics and records are thrown out the window.
Despite playing at McKeon Park, the tense playoff atmosphere made things difficult for Hyannis to be themselves from the get-go Tuesday evening. Hawks ace, Aaron Savary (Iowa), was granted the rock for his fifth start of the summer. Savary, who posted a lights-out 1.42 regular season ERA, struggled to find command early on. He surrendered a trio of free passes to Bourne hitters in the bottom of the second but walked away with just one run allowed. Triston Bissetta scored easily on a passed ball to give the Braves a 1-0 lead.
Paired with the Hawks' inability to record a hit until the seventh inning on Tuesday, this spelled danger for the No. 1 seed in the West.
"We could've hit," Karraker said as to what could have benefitted his club. "We didn't hit at all... you know, I felt like we took a lot of fastballs that that we probably could have swung at, but [I'm] not in the box... it's hard to hit."
Without recording a knock, Hyannis sparked some offense in the bottom of the third. Jaxson West (Florida State) led off with a 10-pitch walk. The backstop, once down 0-2 in the count, brought the animated Hyannis faithful to life with his ability to fight off pitches and grind things out.
After Josh Tate (Georgia Southern) walked himself, spark plug Kane Kepley (North Carolina) drove in West on a sacrifice fly to tie the game. The Hawks only scratched across one in the frame, as Bourne’s Ethan McElvain tip-toed out of further damage.
The Braves quickly took back control of the tilt when Chris Stanfield smoked a line drive two-run home run in the top of the fourth. Chandler Dorsey (LSU) had entered to relieve Savary, the West All-Star starter contributed three innings of one-run ball in his final start as a Hawk.
Things escalated further for Hyannis in the top of the sixth when Bourne led off the frame with back-to-back hits. Dominick Carbone (Coastal Carolina) came in to relieve Dorsey and limited the damage to just two Braves crossing the plate. Nevertheless, Hyannis was down 5-1 after six and never made things close.
"You know, the emotions are just different in the playoffs," Karraker said. "I don't think we handled them as well as [Bourne] did. As a coach and manager, [I} need to be able to notice that a little bit better."
The 41-game 2024 season will be remembered as another step in the right direction toward a Cape Cod Baseball League title, but the club ultimately came up short.
"[I'm] overly competitive, so for me, every year I want the best record, to win [the West] and to win [a Championship]," general manager Nick Johnson said. "I won't sugarcoat it... like this loss you know, it sucks. I think this team is just as competitive as [Bourne], and I thought we ran into a little bit of bad luck today with battled balls."
One player who stood out during Tuesday's loss was Carbone. The southpaw added 2.1 scoreless innings in relief where he scatted three hits, but worked away any potential damage and struck out a pair.
"The improvements [Carbone] has made credits our staff," Johnson said. "... I think next year we're already ahead of the curve because [Karraker] has all this under him now... this season we had a lot of people experiencing [the CCBL] for the first time."
With Tuesday's elimination, the Braves have now sent the Harbor Hawks packing for the third consecutive season. Although it is a tough pill to swallow, it will only fuel the fire for many.
"I think we had a real big goal to beat [Bourne]," Karraker said. "They've had our number all year, and I think the mission was the same... just for whatever reason, we couldn't get it done [Tuesday]... I'm proud of our guys, they fought and just couldn't get it done... that's baseball sometimes."