The two greatest words in Cape Cod League baseball: Game 3. The Harwich Mariners hosted the Bourne Braves Tuesday for Game 3 of the championship. The Mariners dodged elimination Monday night after a 1-0 win at Bourne. The last time the Mariners hosted a Game 3 in the championship was in 1987.
Colin Lebel was the starter for the Mariners Tuesday. The last time Lebel was on the mound, the right-hander pitched 4 ⅔ innings and gave up two earned runs in the 6-5 win over Brewster in Game 2 of the opening round.
The Mariners struck first in the bottom of the first inning after a Cade Kurland RBI single. Niko Brini and Ty Smolinski got the offense going after both reaching base with singles which allowed Cade to drive in Brini on a line drive to center field to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
The Braves soon tied the game up in the top of the second inning after a Justin Osterhouse RBI single to left field.
For the second straight game, the Mariners starters completely shut down the Braves offense. Lebel lasted five innings for Harwich and only gave up one run, which came on Osterhouse's RBI single.
“The crowd we had here tonight was awesome. Doing it for them and for my teammates that I’ve been here with the entire summer, you want to at least come out on top. I just had that in the back of my mind, and it really pushed me to do my best,” said Lebel.
The Mariners would regain the lead in the bottom of the third inning after a Ty Smolinski RBI single that scored Colin Larson. Smolinski had himself a two-hit day in the biggest game of his Cape season.
Harwich added onto their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning after RBIs from Tucker Stockman and Paul Jones to give the Mariners a 4-1 lead.
The Braves would go on to only put up one more run, despite leaving nine runners on base in the final three innings. The run came on a Ryker Waite bases loaded walk.
Luke Morgan was in charge of closing out the mighty Braves. Austin Hawke and Ryker Waite both reached base on singles to put the game leading run up to the plate. Morgan was able to battle back to get Brice Estep and Rustan Rigdon out. Luke Costello was the final chance for the Braves, a player that could flip the game on its side after one swing of the bat. Six pitches was all it took for Costello to send a high fly ball to the infield which was later caught by JP Peltier to end the game.
“I just needed to focus on absolutely beating up the strike zone, trying to beat them to each spot and not worry about anything else. I had a lot of rehab with my knee, so I was just trying to stay more directional, fill up the zone and get it done,” said Morgan.
Harwich conquered the Cape and Mariners third baseman, JP Peltier was named the Most Valuable Player for the playoffs.
“MVP is the cherry on top. Getting that big trophy with this group and all the guys that have been here since day one, it’s special. I’m going to remember this group for the rest of my life as a special summer. I’m just so grateful for everything this summer,” said Peltier.
Peltier batted .346 with a 1.008 OPS for the Mariners this postseason. Peltier’s glove at third base was some of the best defense the league saw all season.
Just like Peltier, Smolinski was a Mariners player since the first practice that dated back to early June. Smolinski always saw the vision that one day the boys could be holding the trophy.
“This team was really special. We had a lot of guys that stayed the whole time, and even the guys that didn’t, everyone was really bought in and playing for these coaches, playing for Stevie. This is the most fun I’ve had playing baseball. It was a blast, so I’m very thankful for this opportunity,” said Smolinski.
Coach Englert can now finish his summer by adding a second piece of hardware to his legendary career. The 2026 Harwich Mariners road to the top was not as easy as it seemed. They took down the mighty Brewster Whitecaps, later followed it by getting revenge on Y-D, the team that eliminated the Mariners in last year’s playoffs. Harwich capped off the Mariner playoff run by taking down the most recent Cape dynasty in Bourne.
“The whole summer is a grind, and you’ve got to catch some breaks along the way. But if you have a good team and good chemistry, you’ve got a good chance of making a run, and we had it. We had a good group of kids. They enjoyed one another, they were great teammates and they were the epitome of a grinder, the whole team,” said Englert.
