It didn’t matter how the Hyannis Harbor Hawks got into the playoffs. It just mattered that they got in.
They showed that they belonged right away.
Riding a dominant game from the pitching staff and a few timely hits, the Harbor Hawks upended the top-seed Bourne Braves in game one of the West Division first round matchup, winning 3-1 in a fiery matchup at Doran Park Tuesday night.
“This is playoff baseball,” said manager Mitch Karraker. “It is going to be close like this, it is going to be very competitive. Our guys did a nice job.”
The first four innings of the game went by with both teams failing to score a run, despite Hyannis having plenty of chances to do so. In the fifth inning, Deiten Lachance put the Hawks on the board. Facing Bourne’s Matthew Shorey in his third at-bat of the day, Lachance ripped a double down the left field line that rolled all the way to the wall, bringing in Owen Prince and Jayce Dobie to put Hyannis ahead 2-0.
With Sam Garewal working the seventh inning for the Hawks, he ran into a bases loaded, one out jam. He induced a groundout from Ryker Waite that wasn’t hit hard enough to turn a double play, so Hyannis traded the run for the out as Gavin Kelly crossed home on the grounder.
After Garewal got out of trouble in the seventh and struck out two in a perfect eighth inning, Hyannis got some key insurance in the ninth. After Brody Briggs advanced to third and Owen Prince to second on a Will Whelan balk, Briggs scored on a sacrifice fly from Jayce Dobie to make it 3-1.
Ryan Speshyock came in for the ninth and shut down the Braves in order to secure the win.
Right after that, chaos ensued.
Kade Lewis, who struck out to end the game, had words for Briggs behind the plate. The two started shouting, then there was some pushing and shoving, and before long, the benches were cleared and there was pandemonium for a few minutes behind home plate. Order was quickly restored, and Karraker said after the game they will find out Wednesday if any repercussions are in order.
Before the mayhem at the end of the game, it was the tall righty Carson Jasa who got the start for Hyannis against Shorey for Bourne. Jasa gave Hyannis 4.2 shutout innings, walking four hitters and allowing two hits while picking up five strikeouts.
“I felt good about my fastball today,” said Jasa. “There were a couple hiccups in there, kinks in the hose, but I felt like I was able to drive it through the glove today. Felt really directional. Briggs was helping me out there, stealing a bunch [of pitches], making me look really good.”
Jasa was hoping to be in the strike zone all night, and that’s exactly what ended up happening.
“The game plan for me was to be in the zone with all my stuff, because at the end of the day, that is going to get hitters out,” said Jasa. “[I] got a great defense back there, so [I] let them work, let them know I believe in them, and just get outs.”
Chris Diaz was the first man out of the bullpen in relief of Jasa. He was credited with the win thanks to 1.1 scoreless innings. Garewal, despite allowing one run in the seventh, handled the next two innings with minor damage, and Speshyock shut it down in the ninth with his fourth save of the summer and first of the playoffs.
Karraker applauded the efforts of the relievers after Jasa departed, calling them a big reason for the win.
“Sam, he got on his heels a little bit in that first inning, then came back out and got a 1-2-3 inning after that, which was big,” said Karraker. “Any time we give ‘Spesh’ the ball, we feel good. Diaz, [I] can’t say enough about that kid. [It] feels like he has been lights out every time we give him the ball.”
After taking care of business on the road, the Harbor Hawks now have a chance to eliminate the Braves and secure their spot in the second round with a win at McKeon Park Wednesday night. Southpaw Max Stammel gets the ball for Hyannis, opposed by Folger Boaz for the Braves.
Michael Najarian can be reached at mikenajarian379@gmail.com and on X @MichaelNaj3.
