It was a tale of two games for the Harwich Mariner offense against the Falmouth Commodores Monday night. Through six innings, a Harrison Feinberg sprint home on a passed ball represented the only score for either team. The run was Harwich’s third in its past 22 innings.
Then in the seventh, the switch flipped for Harwich.
With Niko Brini on first, designated hitter Kyle Wolff pulled a slider over the left field fence for his first home run of the summer. His shot ignited the Harwich offense in the late innings, cruising to a 6-0 victory for the team’s second victory of the season. It was the first game Harwich showed its toughness in the late innings.
“That’s all it takes to get you going,” Harwich field manager Steve Englert said. “That one big hit. We kept going from there. It was a good grinding win.”
The home run was the Boston native’s first hit of the summer and the first home run for Harwich this season.
Finally with a comfortable lead, the Mariners found their rhythm in the ninth inning.
Wolff and Matt Conte led the inning off with back-to-back singles. Centerfielder Tre Broussard brought Wolff home on a sacrifice fly to left and Feinberg singled in Conte to extend the lead.
Third baseman Eric Becker followed with an RBI single, extending his hit streak to three games.
Harwich tallied just one hit against Falmouth starting pitcher T.J. Coats. The rising Nebraska junior silenced the Mariners bats for five innings, striking out seven.
“The kid pitched good,” Englert said. “You’re facing guys down here who are going (to get drafted) in the top five rounds. Sometimes you take your hats off to those guys.”
Pitching staff combines for shutout
While the offensive boost was a welcomed sight for the entire team, Feinberg’s dash would have been enough with the pitching performance from the trio of Mariners
For the second time in three games, Harwich got a scoreless outing from its starting pitcher. Hawaii’s Freddy Rodriguez kept the Commodores off balance and allowed just three baserunners through four innings.
Rodriguez credited his change-up to getting the swings-and-misses in his first Cape League start.
“I was able to keep it low today,” he said. “It had good run and dive on it. They couldn’t really touch it. So I kept going to it every at-bat.”
Behind Rodriguez, Massachusetts native Thomas Shurtleff picked up the win with three scoreless in relief. Tazwell Butler earned the save after striking out four Commodores in the final two innings.
The relief duo allowed just three hits and no walks across five innings.
“They were lights out. Came in and did their job,” Rodriguez said. “If I do my job and pass the baton and the next guy does their job, we’re going to have a successful day.”
Harwich hosts Cotuit tomorrow at Whitehouse Field, first pitch at 6:30 p.m. The Mariners will then head to Fenway Park on Wednesday.
