The Hyannis Harbor Hawks scraped together a 3-1 victory over the Cotuit Kettleers thanks to an excellent day from their pitching crew. The Harbor Hawks (4-2-1, 3-1 West Division) mound militia combined for the hits allowed, with zero earned runs and nine combined strikeouts while fighting through multiple tough situations.
After a struggle to start the bottom of the eighth for Adam Troy, Ryan Speshyock inherited runners on the corners with one out and Hyannis leading 3-1. The Stanford right-hander struck out his Cardinal teammate, Rintaro Sasaki, burying a pitch in the dirt to get the Japan native swinging.
Speshyock then struck out Luke Lavin with a pitch painting the inside corner on the lefty, freezing another familiar face from Stanford.
After a scoreless top of the ninth for the Harbor Hawks, Speshyock manned the rubber with a save on the line. The Goleta, California, native forced three Kettleers (1-6, 1-1 West Division) into hard-fought groundouts to secure the win.
“I feel really good about giving [Speshyock] the ball,” Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker said. “He’s very comfortable, you can tell, he controls the moment, which those last few outs are not easy to get.”
The battle on both sides of the mound were exceptional in this game, including solid performances from Cotuit’s Reed Moring and Preston Crowl. The sparing spells of offense that the Harbor Hawks saw in this game came exclusively off the bat of Chris Rembert.
After a pair of outs to start the game, Andrew Williamson drew a walk, bringing up Rembert. The Auburn infielder, fresh off a 4-for-4 night against Wareham, picked up where he left off with a two-run blast into left-center field.
Hyannis’ hottest hitter continued his power streak in the eighth inning, hitting a towering shot over the left field fence for his second big fly of the contest. This was the second baseman’s third homer in his last two games, making him the team leader in round-trippers.
Similarly, the Kettleers struggled to produce much on offense, only managing to score in the second during an otherwise lockdown outing from Harbor Hawks starter Trey Beard. Case Sanderson reached on an error and moved up to second with a walk by Easton Winfield.
Lavin struck the first pitch he saw into left field, scoring Sanderson to cut Hyannis’ lead in half.
Beard didn’t let the unearned run affect him, closing the second inning and working through a pair more while allowing two hits, two walks and totaling three strikeouts. Carson Jasa took the mound, changing the pace against Cotuit with his blazing fastball.
The Nebraska right-hander traversed through control issues, allowing four walks, but was potent when he found the zone. Vahn Lackey contributed to cleaning up the basepaths, making two incredible plays during Jasa’s outing.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Georgia Tech catcher nailed Jarren Advincula attempting to steal second as part of a strike-out, throw-out double-play to end the inning.
“I’m just relying on my arm and my athleticism back there,” Lackey said. “As long as I set myself up in a good spot, I feel like I can just react from there and just trust my workout side of the game.”
While that play flowed perfectly between the bump and the backstop, Lackey’s next defensive highlight went off script. After a hit by pitch and a walk to start the sixth inning, Lackey kept a watchful eye on Jack Natili leading off at second base.
With Sanderson showing bunt at the plate, Natili took multiple daring secondary leads. Lackey pumped at the throw twice before syncing up with Harbor Hawks shortstop Jake Schaffner to pick off Natili as he scampered back towards second.
Jasa got through the rest of the sixth with relative ease, passing the baton to Troy, who set up a 4-6-3 double-play to get Hyannis out of a jam in the seventh.
After Speshyock’s incredible closing performance, the Harbor Hawks’ bullpen ended the night with only one hit allowed in the final five innings of the game.
Hyannis looks to continue its winning ways against the Chatham Anglers, returning to action on June 22 at 6 p.m. in McKeon Park.
Tymothy Brown can be reached at tymbrown12@gmail.com or followed on X @tym_brown1
