Troy Dressler has come a long way since his first appearance of the season. After beginning the season out of the bullpen, he has worked his way to becoming one of the best starting pitchers on the Cape.

With just a two-point lead over the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox for first place in the East Division, the Harwich Mariners called on Dressler to start in one of the most important games of the season.

The righty rose to the challenge with five shutout innings, holding down the division rival long enough for the Mariners to win, 3-2, and extend their first-place lead to two games.

“Glad to go out there and provide for the team,” Dressler said. “Definitely had a good feel of my changeup, which has come a long way.”

The Demon Deacon started the game by striking out Y-D’s A.J. Nessler and Jack Arcamone. From there he was dialed in and got the outs when the pressure was on.

In the third inning, he struck out Arcamone and got Chris Hacopian to pop out to Trey Wells to leave runners on the corners.

When Dressler got to the fifth, he needed some great defense to work around two walks. With Nick Costello at first, Dressler stabbed a line drive off the bat of Garrett Wright and doubled up the runner at first.

After a walk to Jack Bell, A.J. Nessler hit a deep drive to right-center field that looked like it was going to drop.

Niko Brini went into hot pursuit for the ball and laid out just before the warning track to snatch the ball out of the air and end the inning and save the Mariners from giving up a run.

“That was huge. I was getting tired towards the end. It was a great way to cap off the start,” Dressler said.

The game was now in the hands of the bullpen. Y-D broke through with a run in the seventh and eighth to close the deficit. With runners on first and second with just one out, field manager Steve Englert called on closer Christian Rodriguez to save the game.

After Rodriguez tossed a wild pitch to advance both runners into scoring position, he struck out Jayce Tharnish and Nick Costello to end the inning.

The Florida Gator came out for the ninth inning and struck out another three batters to extend the Mariners' win streak to six.

“His stuff is just electric,” Brini said of his teammate. “Everyone feels a calm presence with him up.”

Offense does just enough

The Mariners saved all their scoring for the second inning. While it wasn’t a lot, it got the job done.

First baseman Sam Harris broke out of a slump with an RBI single to score Jake Koonin and put runners on the corners with one out, giving the Mariners the 1-0 lead. Harris scored two batters later on a single from leadoff hitter Tanner Marsh.

Marsh scored what turned out to be the winning run thanks to a single from Brini.

The Mariners are hitting their stride with just six games left in the regular season. The team has won in different ways during the winning streak, giving the coaching staff confidence in its current state.

“We’re taking it one day at a time,” pitching coach Ryan Parker said. “But this momentum is undeniable.”

Moving forward

The Mariners (19-12-3) ended their seven-game stretch 6-1. They are now in first place in the East. They have an off-day Monday before finishing the season with six consecutive games. They host Orleans (17-15-2) on Tuesday at Whitehouse Field. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m.