Through the 40 games of baseball this summer, there has been one consistent thread for the Harwich Mariners: pitching.
From the hot streaks to the cold stretches, the Mariner hurlers have come through in the clutch moments. Despite swapping arms out through most of the year, Harwich had the league’s lowest ERA at 3.27.
Even with the playoffs secured, it was only fitting for the Mariners to get one final great team pitching performance to close out the regular season.
Tanner Duke made his first start of the summer, looking to eat some innings for the Mariners. The Chatham Anglers made Duke work every inning, recording four hits and three walks. Despite laboring through three innings, he left the mound in a tie ball game, 2-2.
The Mariner gave up just one run the rest of the way. Unfortunately, that run proved to be the difference as the Anglers won on a wild pitch in the tenth inning to give Harwich the 3-2 to close out the regular season.
Harwich finished the season at 21-16-3, good for second place in the Eastern Division. Thanks to a 2-1-1 record over the Brewster Whitecaps, Harwich will have home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Duke handed the ball off to the newest Mariner, Bryan Matuschat. Just finishing up his season with the Valley Blue Sox of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, he gave Harwich its second straight scoreless outing from a pitcher making their team debut.
The rising sophomore from Sacred Heart opened his Cape League debut by allowing back-to-back singles in the fourth inning. Matuschat proceeded to get out of his own jam by getting three consecutive infield ground outs.
Just one Angler reached base over the next three innings.
Five Harwich relievers combined to allow just one unearned run over 6.2 innings. In the bottom of the tenth inning, the lead off hitter Chase Fralick dropped a bunt single off Scott Donegan to put runners on the corners.
Donegan managed to get two consecutive outs, highlighted by shortstop Tanner Marsh throwing out Daniel Jackson at home for the second night.
With Fralick at third and Isaiah Lane at the plate, Donegan threw a 2-1 pitch in the dirt that bounced away from Matt Conte and to the back stop, allowing the winning run to score.
Glasscock’s revenge:
The last time these teams played, the Mariners scored six runs off JJ Glasscock at Whitehouse Field in a 12-1 Harwich victory.
In the season finale, Glasscock got the start and looked like a new pitcher. The righty went five innings allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits.
His start set the tone for the rest of the Angler staff. The Mariners managed to load the bases in the seventh and eighth innings, yet scored no runs to grab the late lead. Harwich left 14 men on base.
Moving forward:
Thanks to some key outings from the new additions, the majority of the pitching staff will be well rested for Tuesday’s opening playoff game. The Mariners will host the Brewster Whitecaps at 6:30 at Whitehouse Field for Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. Troy Dressler is slated to start the opening game.
