Before Wareham’s game Sunday night, Eli Putnam switched bats. It’s not that he was necessarily struggling — he was batting .333 with six hits and was one of the most consistent hitters at the plate for the Gatemen — but something just wasn’t quite clicking for the first baseman.

So, he did the only thing a baseball player can really do when they want to change things up. It paid off.

When Putnam walked up to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning, he was already 2-for-2 with a single and a stolen base. His blood was pumping and he was feeling good, but he was about to feel a whole lot better.

After sitting on a ball outside the zone, the Davidson first baseman launched a changeup 355 feet to left field, bringing the Gatemen within one run of tying the Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Putnam’s solo shot sparked a rally in which the Gatemen brought in two more runs to seize the lead by a score of 7-6. They never relinquished it.

“It put us in a different gear that we needed to be in at that point, that we needed to be in to bury a team,” manager Ryan Smyth said. “We haven’t really put a team away [yet], and we just did.”

The Gatemen traded blows with the Harbor Hawks until the sixth inning, when Putnam’s home run kicked off a series of events that brought in a total of seven runs across three innings. Wareham’s 11-6 win Sunday night marked the first time the Gatemen took down Hyannis since July 7, 2022, and propelled the Gatemen into first place in the Cape League West Division.

“We’re never out of it,” Smyth said. “With our arms that can keep us in it, and the hitters that are just as gritty as can be right now, it’s everything you want, right? You just sit back and watch sometimes.”

Smyth was able to sit back and watch Putnam round the bases in the sixth inning, and he did the same exact thing in the seventh inning. Putnam, now with the baseball gods on his side, smashed a fastball 410 feet to right-center field to bring around two more runs and extend Wareham’s lead to 9-6.

“He’s levelheaded, consistent and a ballplayer,” Bobby Boser (transfer portal) said.

Putnam serves as the perfect example for how the Gatemen are playing baseball: they’re staying calm, collected and confident. They’re focused on just playing baseball and getting where they want to be — which is the win column. They aren’t trying to do too much, and they’re getting rewarded for playing good, clean baseball. Putnam isn’t the loudest or flashiest guy on the field, so some of his successes fly under the radar, but he does what exactly he needs to do.

“When we got that on the field every day, he’s going to produce for us,” Boser added. “And I’m happy to see it.”

Boser, like Putnam, recorded three hits on the night and also worked a walk to keep momentum going for the Gatemen. As a team, the Gatemen racked up 17 hits, and their prolific hitting put them at the top of the league with a team batting average of .291 and a total of 72 hits.

Antonio Jimenez (transfer portal) hit his second home run of his Cape League career as well Sunday night, padding Wareham’s lead even more in the eighth inning with his 370-foot shot. The wind was howling in and around Spillane Field throughout the night, but all three balls that left the yard would have cleared the fence even if the air was completely still.

The combination of Wareham’s power hitting, small ball and dominant bullpen outings ensured yet another comeback win for a team that can’t seem to click any better than it already has.

“I just think we’re a super close team right now,” Putnam said. “It’s just great team chemistry, and we love to win.”

And just like baseball players love to win, they also love their superstitions. So there’s absolutely no question that Putnam is going to keep using that same bat he switched to Sunday night — and hope it doesn’t break.

Top photo credit: Eli Putnam rounds second base after his second home run in Wareham's 11-6 win over the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, June 23, 2024, at Spillane Field. Photo by Keegan Maloney.