Throughout the entire summer, the Harwich Mariners did not win a game after an off-day. The Mariners often played their best when they had long stretches of games to get into a rhythm.
That trend presented a problem as Game 1 in the opening round of the Cape Cod Baseball League playoffs between Harwich and the Brewster Whitecaps took place Tuesday after the league gave all the teams a day to rest on Monday.
Instead of waiting to dial in, the Mariners jumped out with two runs in the first inning against Brewster starting pitcher Duncan Marsten. Harwich used that early momentum to win, 10-2, and take the 1-0 lead in the series. Marsten's Wake Forest teammate, Troy Dressler, got the nod for Harwich and dealt for five strong innings for the win.
With many of Harwich’s post off-day games, the offense was sluggish, either falling behind early or waiting until the late innings to score.
Dressler injected a shot of energy in his team by striking out the side in the first inning. Originally a reliever-turned-starter, his 25 strikeouts during the regular season was second most on the team.
The near-immaculate inning was enough for the Mariners' bats to give their pitcher plenty of breathing room. While it was a great beginning, Dressler knew the job was far from over.
“I was pumped up, but I try to stay consistent and not get too anxious or overconfident,” he said.
He extended his strikeout streak to four and tallied five by the time he ended the second inning.
In the bottom of the first, Harwich put together a two-out rally. With Ryan Gerety at second, Matt Conte poked an opposite-field double to give Harwich the lead. Conte scored two batters later on a single from Patrick Fultz.
Jake Koonin ran Marsten out of the game in the third with a double with men on the corners to score two more. He collected his second hit with a solo home run as part of a five-run eighth inning for the Mariners.
The outfielder from Princeton spearheaded a Mariners offense that recorded 12 hits on the night.
The early cushion allowed Harwich to extend Dressler on the mound. With Harwich up five runs going into the fifth inning, field manager Steve Englert gave Dressler the opportunity to work through a bases-loaded jam with one out.
“You could tell he was getting a little tired,” Harwich assistant coach Matt Hook said. “But at that point, it was a 5-0 game. Just let him compete and work out of it.”
The rising Wake Forest sophomore got back-to-back ground balls to surrender just one run and keep a 5-1 lead. He ended his day with six strikeouts with just the one run on a trio of hits.
From there, Scott Doran went the distance for Harwich. His four-inning save allowed Englert to save arms like Thomas Shurtleff and Christian Rodriguez for Game 2. He gave Brewster fits with his curveball and, like Dressler, allowed just one run.
Holding the three-run lead, the Mariners could have decided to take their foot of the gas pedal. Instead, they continued to turn up the heat on Brewster late.
Harwich teed off on relief pitcher Jack DeTienne in the following half-inning. After Koonin’s blast, his fourth of the summer, the next five Mariners reached. Sam DeCarlo’s chopper up the middle drove in two runs to make the score 9-2.
Moving forward
Harwich looks to sweep the opening series Wednesday at Brewster. Gianni Gambardella gets the nod for the Mariners in Game 2 at Stony Brook Field. First pitch is at 4 p.m.
