In the opening game of the Western Division Series, Carson Jasa gave the Hyannis Harbor Hawks a strong start in their 3-1 win over the Bourne Braves. Hyannis’ (1-0) starter held Bourne (0-1) scoreless through four and two-thirds innings, holding off a hot offense while the one supporting him warmed up.
The six-foot-seven right-hander, known for his blazing fastball, collected five strikeouts while allowing two hits and four walks in his outing. Even as the free passes stacked up, Jasa had no trouble exiting a jam.
“For [Jasa], it’s about throwing strikes,” manager Mitch Karraker said. “He still had a few more walks than we would’ve liked, but was able to make pitches when he had to and put up a bunch of zeroes, which is good.”
In the bottom of the second, the Nebraska hurler gave up back-to-back walks with one out. Jasa stepped up immediately, getting ahead of Ryan Cooney quickly with two strikes painted on the outside part of the zone.
After trying to get the batter to chase on an 0-2 pitch, Jasa went low and inside on Cooney, forcing a groundout to third that nearly made its way around the horn for an inning-ending double-play.
Cooney beat out the throw from second and put himself in scoring position three pitches into Jon LeGrande's at-bat. With runners on second and third and two out, Jasa fired a fastball to the outside edge of the zone on the lefty LeGrande, who could only wave at the pitch as it flew past to strike him out.
This strikeout ended the inning, giving Jasa momentum to stay out of jams until his final frame in the fifth. After a walk to start the inning, the Thornton, Colorado, native got a flyout and groundout to settle back in.
Facing Braden Holcomb next, Jasa fought his way to a 2-2 count, but hit the Vanderbilt third baseman with the sixth pitch of the at-bat. This sparked Karraker to bring in Sam Garewal with two runners on, ending the inning immediately with a pop-out.
Working around baserunners was an issue for Jasa in his previous two starts. The Harbor Hawks’ ace allowed three runs in three and one-third innings against the Cotuit Kettleers on July 24 and had six earned runs against the Falmouth Commodores on July 30.
The difference in this game came on Jasa’s ability to induce weak contact and let his difficult mix of pitches do their work when attacking the zone. Brody Briggs, a consistent battery mate of Jasa’s throughout the summer, fully bought into this game plan.
“We attacked more than normal,” Briggs said. “Today we emphasized [that] we’re just going to throw fastballs and make [the Braves] hit, that simplified it for [Jasa].”
With both halves of the battery on the same page, Jasa’s comfort level showed in his performance.
“I feel like, with Briggs, he’s caught me a few times this summer, he’s known how I’m trying to attack guys, how I’m trying to put away guys,” Jasa said. “[He] steals a bunch of pitches, makes me feel good about what I’m doing, he definitely reinstills confidence in me.”
With a chance to move on to the second round, Hyannis continues the Division Series against the Bourne Braves on Aug. 6 at 6 p.m. in McKeon Park.
Tym Brown can be reached at tymbrown12@gmail.com and followed on X @tym_brown1.
