When you're fighting for the West Division's No. 1 seed in the Cape Cod Baseball League, you'll take wins however they come.
The Hyannis Harbor Hawks embraced the unusual circumstances Friday afternoon, grinding out a 5-3 victory over the Bourne Braves in the first of two games on the day after previous weather postponements created an atmosphere head coach Mitch Karraker called "weird."
"It's a great win, but certainly a weird feeling playing that early in the day," Karraker said. "We were out of our routine a little bit with no BP or infield/outfield work. It was a quiet day with a smaller crowd, but that makes me even more proud of our guys.
"I thought we had really good at-bats throughout the entire game," he added. "That's a really good team, so any win we can get against them, we're always happy about."
With a second game against the Harwich Mariners awaiting later Friday, Karraker and his staff planned to limit their pitchers' workloads. They accomplished that by using three pitchers over seven innings, beginning with starter Jonah Barkoff (Oregon).
Barkoff tossed two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while making a strong case to be Hyannis' Game 1 starter in the playoffs.
The Lake Oswego, Oregon, native has focused on working in the lower half of the strike zone, pitching to contact and trusting his defense to make plays behind him.
"I'm working on filling up the lower half of the zone," Barkoff said. "I have a great defense behind me, so I want to let them make plays. Pitching to contact and being able to tunnel my offspeed pitches off my fastball has been effective for me as well."
Van Froling (UC Santa Barbara) took over to begin the third inning, throwing 2 2/3 innings before giving way to Kevin Landry Farr (Southern Mississippi), who closed out the game.
Jax Gimenez (Oregon) gave the Hawks an early lead with a two-run single to center field, scoring Nicholas Dromboski (Stony Brook) and Andrew Lamb (Southern California).
Hyannis extended its advantage in the third inning when a wild pitch from Bourne's Ben Dean allowed Clay Thompson (James Madison) to score after he reached on a leadoff walk.
Thompson's night was far from over. With Matt Ineich (West Virginia) on second after drawing a walk, the right fielder lined a two-out RBI single into left field to extend the Hawks' lead to 4-0, providing what proved to be the game-winning run.
After working the count full, Thompson stayed patient and waited for the pitch he wanted.
"I knew he was going back to the heater because he threw a couple of curveballs for balls earlier, and everything was going up and away," Thompson said. "I kind of scooted off the plate and thought to myself, 'If he throws one out, I'll foul it off.' Then he threw one in, and I was like, 'This is all I wanted.'"
Bourne cut the deficit in half in the fifth inning, but Hyannis quickly answered in the sixth. With the bases loaded, a balk from Braves reliever Joshua Surigao allowed Charlie Bates (Stanford) to score from third, restoring the Hawks' three-run advantage.
Ryker Waite's solo home run in the seventh inning proved to be too little too late, as Farr closed out the game to secure the victory for the Hawks.
The win moved Hyannis within one point of the division-leading Bourne Braves, setting up a dramatic final three days of the regular season with multiple playoff seeds still up for grabs.
The Hawks' busy Friday schedule continues that evening, as they return to action at 6 p.m. against the Harwich Mariners. Raymond Olivas (UC Santa Barbara) is expected to get the start for Hyannis as the team looks to keep pace in the West Division race and strengthen its playoff position.
