Gatemen set to pay first visit to Anglers’ Veteran’s Field in over a month 

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There aren’t many things you can’t say about the Wareham Gatemen (20-15-1) -- they’ve seen it all this year. The epic high of manning the league’s best record more than midway through the season, and the epic low of losing to the league’s worst.

There’s one thing that you couldn’t have said about the 2024 Gatemen until now: The Gatemen have now lost four games in a row. After an 8-3 loss to Bourne – a team they were previously unbeaten against – Wareham has seen four consecutive losses for the first time since last summer. In fact, Wareham hasn’t lost more than two consecutive games this season up until this skid.

The problem is it’s a die’s roll on whether it’s the hitting or pitching that has faltered in each game. They’ve been outscored 32-19 in this stretch, with a league-worst 8.72 ERA over this four-game period.

But as they hit the homestretch of the regular season, their penultimate road game of the summer proposes an opportunity to rid themselves of this ambiguous bad juju. For the final time in 2024, the Wareham Gatemen and the Chatham Anglers (18-18) will meet in the regular season. And it’s one last trip to Chatham’s charming Veteran’s Field – which is just a bonus.

While Wareham leads the season-series 2-1 over Chatham, they fared exceptionally well in their lone trip to the hitter-friendly confines of the Chatham Anglers. In an 8-2 win in Chatham back on June 27, the Gatemen tagged four extra-base hits against Anglers pitching.

Now that Wareham has the league’s worst batting average since June 25 (.200), perhaps they can rediscover their hitting ways in one final trip to Veteran’s Field on Thursday.

Starting Pitchers

Manager Ryan Smyth entrusts this bounce back start in the hands of Brok Eddy (Arizona State). This will be the 6-foot-3 right-hander's first start of the summer, as he’s had two relief outings since his Cape League debut on July 23.

Eddy hasn’t allowed a run yet, tossing four and 2/3 innings thus far. He’s been purely a reliever in college as he appeared three times out of the ‘pen in his freshman season at Arizona State. But he’s proven to handle innings well. In his Gatemen debut, he tossed four scoreless innings in relief in a 10-4 win over Orleans – Wareham's most recent home win.

Chatham Manager Eric Beattie is looking for a third straight win and will give the nod to Lucas Hartman (Florida Gulf Coast). The righty how only thrown in one game so far, a start back on July 25 at Bourne. He gave up three earned runs in three and 2/3 innings after allowing four hits.

But that poor debut came after a solid stretch in the MLB Draft League. For the Fredericksburg Keys, Hartman featured a 4.00 ERA in nine innings, spread across five relief outings. He’ll look to rediscover that peak form in his second start for the Anglers.

Both pitchers will face offenses with legitimate threats up and down the order, though.

Players to Watch

Eli Putnam (Davidson) is the defiant hitter in this woeful stretch for Wareham. After hitting a homer in Wednesday’s loss to Bourne, Putnam has gone yard in back-to-back games. He’s now riding a five-game hitting streak, and an eight-game on-base streak.

Putnam slashes .385/.448/.692 in his last eight games and sits second in the league in extra-base hits. As Wareham has leaned on the long ball sometimes, Putnam is a hitter to watch in an offensive outburst.

I mean, good hitters make good hitters, right?

Chatham’s not a power threat but darn it they get on base! With a .355 on-base percentage as a squad, the Anglers reach base better than any team in the league besides Hyannis.

Ashton Larson (Louisiana State) is having quite the week of baseball himself. In Chatham’s most recent victory over Hyannis, Larson went 3-for-5 with a homer and a double – he finished a triple shy of the cycle. The homer was also his first of the season.

He’s slashing .311/.365/.408 so far this season but is on a seven-game on-base streak of his own. In his last week of games, Larson’s is hitting for a .345 average and is reaching base at a .387 clip.

Two teams with hitters peaking at the right time.

You can watch the live broadcast as well as other Gatemen content on the Gatemen Baseball Network YouTube channel HERE.

The Gatemen Baseball Network pregame show will go live at 6:45 p.m. ahead of a 7 p.m. first pitch at Veteran’s Field.

Top Photo Caption -- Eli Putnam touches home after going deep at Bourne on July 31, 2024. Photo by Keegan Maloney.