It’s simply a magic bag of talent when picking out the lineup every night for coach Ryan Smyth, and you never know whose turn it is to have a highlight reel in a Gatemen jersey.

“We are so deep through the lineup,” Smyth said. “Our pitching staff is also very good and we're finding ways to win games through good team baseball.”

In the Gatemen's 8-2 win over the Chatham Anglers (10-10) on Tuesday night at Spillane Field, it was utility player Sam White’s (West Virginia) turn to lead the charge at the plate for Wareham as it moved to a league-best 14-5-1 on the season.

White reached base successfully four straight times (2-for-2, two walks, five RBI) starting with a two-strike line drive hit loudly up the middle for an RBI single pushing the Gatemen to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Just two innings later in his very next at-bat, White collected his second hit and fifth RBI of the night in the best fashion possible: a meatball for a fastball over the plate teed off for a grand slam, breaking out the game for a 6-0 lead in the third.

Hitting a baseball is hard enough as it is. There are good days at the plate and also bad, but for White, he’s learning from every opportunity he gets to prepare him for the next.

“What's going in the journal tonight is that I kept a level head for the whole day and it worked out,” he said.

White expressed his knack for being a detail-oriented learner through a small booklet he writes in every night to go over his at-bats from that day’s game.

What he’s feeling that day. What pitches he saw. How he reacted to different pitches in certain counts.

That’s how much White pays attention to the good — and the bad at-bats, going back to learn from the past.

He recalled experiencing both ends of it on Tuesday in the “poor batting practice” he says he took prior to the game, but didn’t let it affect the hitter he needed to be when the lights turned on for the first pitch.

“My BP wasn't great. My early work wasn't great,” White said. “But you know, I told myself the good thing is that we don't want to be a 4 o'clock hitter anyways.”

White’s short-term memory on the field makes him versatile like many players throughout the Gatemen roster, allowing this ballclub to keep finding success.

True freshman Antonio Jimenez (UCF) found similar success with a team-leading fourth homer of the season. A solo shot in the sixth that bounced off the top of the concession stand roof, 40 feet behind the left field wall capped off another strong win.

“He’s just a young pup, but the greatest thing about him is he’s wanting to learn; he is in everybody's ear,” Smyth said. “He's taking advice and he's gonna be one heck of a ballplayer when it's all said and done.”

On the mound, it was a full team effort passing the ball from one arm to another.

Right-hander Darin Horn (Coastal Carolina) led a full bullpen effort from five different pitchers that shut out Chatham for eight innings after the Anglers scored a dashing 13 runs on Monday against Harwich. It's easy to say the Wareham Gatemen are firing on all cylinders.

“We know that we mash and the pitchers are doing their job,” White said. “I think this team plays with a lot of confidence.”

Top photo caption: Sam White celebrates with teammates (from left to right) Murf Gray, Bobby Boser and Brendan Summerhill after hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning of Wareham's 8-2 victory over the Chatham Anglers on July 9, 2024, at Spillane Field. Photo by Kyler Armstrong