The Harwich Mariners traveled to Chatham Sunday to face the Anglers for the fourth time this season. The Mariners are coming off a big-time win where the Mariners walked off the Cotuit Kettleers after a walk-off balk. That win clinched postseason baseball for Harwich.
Colin Lebel was the starter for the Mariners Sunday. Lebel has only two innings of work in his Cape career. Lebel is an east-to-west pitcher with his two main pitches being a cutter and slider. Lebel came into the game trying to work off his two inning performance at Wareham, where he allowed three runs while striking out three.
The Mariners kept their momentum from Saturday night into Sunday, after leadoff batter Niko Brini turned on a fastball which sent the ball tracking towards the right field hill. The home run traveled 356 feet and gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Lebel completely shut down Chatham's offense the first three innings. The JMU product only allowed one hit while striking out five Anglers.
"I thought all of my pitches were working well today. Last week I didn't really have a good feel for them, so after that outing I made sure to get a bullpen session in and really work on everything. The slider, cutter and changeup were all working, and I think mixing those pitches well made my fastball play up even more. It was definitely a much better feeling than last week, and I was happy with how everything came together today," said Lebel.
Chatham took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning and loaded the bases. Harwich's Andrew Basel was one strike away from getting out of a bases-loaded jam. Chatham’s Armani Guzman pushed a ball down the left field line and cleared the bases catapulting the Anglers into a 3-1 lead.
The Sunday night baseball matchup was on pace for one of the quickest games this season entering the ninth inning with only 2 hours of baseball played. Paul Jones had different plans. After a Sean O’Leary walk, Jones launched a ball to deep center. After nailing the top of the center field fence, O’Leary was able to score from Jones' triple. A wild pitch that reached the backstop was how the Mariners were able to tie the game in the top of the ninth to 3-3.
The Anglers answered back in the bottom of the ninth to get runners on the corners. Harwich’s Thomas Mitchell was in charge of forcing Chatham to extra innings. A wild pitch would be the heartbreak ending to Harwich’s comeback after Chatham’s Cameron Pruitt stole home. Mariners dropped their seventh game in their last eight, but clinched a playoff berth in Saturday night's win against Cotuit.
What’s next?
The Mariners have the day off Monday but will pick back up Tuesday when Y-D travels to Whitehouse Field to face Harwich.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
