The Harbor Hawks rallied in the eighth inning to snatch a 6-2 win away from the Chatham Anglers at McKeon Park on Wednesday night.
The crowd of Harbor Hawks fans couldn’t sit down in the eighth as several players contributed to the runs scored to take the lead, but one in particular had the fans up on their feet, and also melted their hearts.
“It was good to see the bats kind of explode there in the eighth,” Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker said. “The bullpen was tremendous. Just kept us in the ball game the whole way through.”
The beginning of the season featured some pitching troubles, but lately the struggles in the bullpen are nowhere to be found. Karraker said that the improvements come with time.
“It’s the more experience that they get and the more comfortable that they get,” Karraker said. “Their second, third, fourth outing they just get better and better. Even with the new guys that are coming in, usually the first one’s a little bit rocky and then after their first one to get their feet wet, it gets better from there.”
The pitching staff of Jonah Barkoff, Liam Kinneen and Brayden Sharp in total threw eight strikeouts and only allowed the Anglers to score in the first inning. The lone score would come off a pitch from Barkoff to Anglers’ first baseman Naulivou Lauaki Jr. that turned into a two-run home run.
After the Anglers took an early lead, it seemed like the struggles on offense would continue for the Harbor Hawks. However, in the third inning, center fielder Charlie Bates was determined to keep the offense alive with a ground ball triple to right field, putting himself in scoring position. All he needed was the ball to get up in the air for him to score, and right fielder Jax Gimenez finished the job with a sacrifice fly to give the Harbor Hawks their first run of the game. Although it wasn’t enough to give the Harbor Hawks the lead, this wasn’t the last we’d see of Bates and Gimenez.
While neither teams’ offense could get anything more on the board, things shifted dramatically in the eighth inning. It started with a walk to second baseman JC Davis. Then Bates came up to bat and smoked another pitch–this time a double to left field–to drive Davis home. Just like that, the Harbor Hawks were tied with no outs yet in the inning.
Then, Gimenez came up to bat. Though he had the RBI sacrifice fly in the third to give the Harbor Hawks a score, he had no hits on the night and struck out swinging in his previous at-bat. On top of that, his family had traveled to watch him play and were in the stands. Given the perfect opportunity to make a moment, with the crowd of fans and his family already on their feet after the game tying score, Gimenez took a swing at a pitch, and he, the fans and his family watched as the ball flew deep to right center field and over the fence. This was Gimenez’s first home run of the season.
“First home run on the Cape definitely was a surreal experience, and I picked a good time to have it too,” Gimenez said. “In front of the family, and to come out big for the team and the guys, it was awesome.”
"We knew that Jax had it in him," Karraker said. "Just a matter of time before he kind of busted out, got a good pitch, and put a good swing on it."
Gimenez’s two-run homer put the Harbor Hawks in the lead, but the offense wasn’t done just yet. Two more runners were able to get on base in the eighth, and third baseman Taylor Kirk ripped a line drive single to left field to score two more for the Harbor Hawks.
All there was left to do was to keep the Anglers from scoring in the top of the ninth, and Brayden Sharp did exactly that, securing the 6-2 win for the Harbor Hawks.
Though the offense had a great showing for the night, Gimenez said the pitching staff and the defense was to thank for the success.
“Recently the pitching staff has been killing it, so who knows if as hitters that encourages us–like tonight when it’s not going well–to really pick it up,” Gimenez said. “They kept us in that game tonight.”
The Harbor Hawks will attempt to keep the momentum going as they stay at home for a second night in a row and face the Brewster Whitecaps on Thursday night. First pitch is at 6 p.m.
