The Hyannis Harbor Hawks defeated the Brewster Whitecaps, 8-6, Tuesday night, in large part due to an influx of base runners and timely hitting. The Harbor Hawks (15-9-1) reached base 19 times, coming through in big ways while keeping the Whitecaps (11-14) off the basepaths as well as the scoreboard.
Hyannis got its offense going early in the bottom of the first inning. With one out, Eric Snow (Auburn) lined a hard-hit single into center field, bringing Dalton Bargo (Tennessee) up to the plate. The Volunteers' catcher took one pitch before launching a deep fly ball hit 91 mph off the bat and 350 feet over the right field fence, scoring two runs for the Harbor Hawks.
“[Tuesday], the ball was flying a little bit different for us,” Bargo said. “Usually we take our walks, move guys over. We don’t have a lot of big power guys, but we’re just a bunch of gamers and we’re gonna find a way to get the job done.”
This wasn’t even close to the only home run hit in Tuesday’s contest, with Kane Kepley (portal) stepping into the left-handed batter’s box to lead off the bottom of the third looking to do damage. Damage was done on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, with the outfielder smacking his second home run of the season down the right field line by the foul pole for a solo shot.
“The first pitch of the game, I popped up on a fastball down the middle, and I was frustrated about that,” Kepley said. “I wanted to work the count a little bit and see all of [the pitcher’s] pitches. I just reacted to a fastball inside and got the barrel out, stayed inside of it and put it out.”
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Hyannis walked three times in a row to load the bases with nobody out. Josh Tate (Georgia Southern) climbed into the box and placed a line drive into right-center field for a two-RBI single. Kepley tallied his second RBI of the night with a fielder’s choice before the frame ended.
“If we can put good at-bats together, we feel good about where we’re at, whether it’s getting results or not,” head coach Mitch Karraker said. “… If we can keep doing that I think runs will come when we need them.”
Anthony Silva (TCU) got a great opportunity for himself at the plate just one inning later in the bottom of the seventh, singling into left field with runners on second and third to score the Harbor Hawks’ seventh run of the ballgame. Run No. 8 came off a Kepley bases-loaded walk just three batters later.
Brewster got most of its runs from the long ball, blasting four homers as a team. Luckily for Hyannis, only one of the deep flies for the Whitecaps went for two runs, with the other three just being solo shots.
“Our pitching staff did a good job, it was ‘the long ball night’ [Tuesday], apparently, but if we can eliminate those, I think we’re gonna be OK,” Karraker said.
Sean Fitzpatrick was the first reliever used on Tuesday for the Harbor Hawks, throwing 2 1/3 innings. He allowed one earned run on three hits and a walk with four strikeouts, earing himself the win.
Casey Hintz (Arizona) and Josh Och (Southern Mississippi) earned a hold and a save, respectively. Hintz threw two innings, allowing one earned run with four strikeouts of his own, while Och shut the door in the ninth without allowing a base runner.
The win on Tuesday makes it two in a row for the Hawks, with a chance to extend the mini win streak not even 24 hours later. Hyannis travels to Guv Fuller Field in Falmouth on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. to take on the Commodores.
Mike Maynard can be reached at mikemay62@gmail.com and followed on Twitter/X @mikecmaynard.
