Wareham, Mass. 一 the Gatemen were one out away from taking down the then-West Division leading Braves on the road on Saturday, America’s 250th birthday. They learned that everything in the Cape League must be earned. Wareham applied it less than 24 hours later, taking down a Cotuit squad who it previously fell to on CCBL Opening Day.
Wareham allowed an early run, but it quickly responded with a Levi Clark (Tennessee) RBI single to score RJ Hamilton (Duke) and knot the game at one in the first inning. Not only did the Gatemen batten down the hatches and allow just one more run, they put a runner on base in every inning.
Each time the Kettleers would throw a jab the Gatemen would issue an emphatic response. Wareham turned a double play in the second to prevent any momentum with runners on, pieced together a clever double steal in the fifth to help score Connor Cuff (Southeastern Louisiana), and stranded nine Cotuit runners on base.
“We're playing much better baseball in general, yesterday was behind us. That's the great thing about this league, there's always a game the next day, unless you have an off day, but for the most part, you have to have short-term memory,” Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth said. “I knew they were going to come out with a little bit of fire tonight. We did that. It was a really well played game overall.”
Wareham played its best ball right from the start, and it continued through the middle and late innings. The Gatemen had a 5-2 advantage heading into the top of the ninth inning looking to grab their third save of 2026. The Kettleers started a brief rally一consecutive doubles to begin the inning and make the game 5-2一but then Jake Schweitzer (Louisville) nabbed three straight outs to earn the save and the Gatemen’s second win in the last three games.
Instead of relenting to the pressure of Cotuit’s back-to-back hits, Wareham adjusted and completed the save while stranding that second double.
“The last three outs of the game are the hardest three outs to get,” Smyth said. “We've had a hard time with that, but luckily the offense did enough tonight to give ourselves a little bit of a cushion and, you know, put us in a position that we could let one or two go and still feel pretty confident that we were going to walk out of there with a win, and that's what we did.
A large part of Wareham’s crucial divisional victory was Ethan Baiotto’s (Tennessee) first start of the summer: he didn’t miss a beat as Sunday’s opener after four excellent outings from the bullpen. Baiotto entered with a team-best 0.77 ERA, the seventh-lowest in the Cape League, and only allowed one score over his four frames.
Baiotto will now be a regular fixture in the Gatemen after spending the first three weeks of the season as a high-usage reliever. Each of his four appearances out of the bullpen went for multiple innings, but he transitions to a starter role similar to this past spring with the Volunteers.
“(Baiotto) was great, efficient in the zone. He looked in control, started getting a little tired at the end, ball started flattening out, but gave us the start that we needed there,” Smyth said. “Kid just jumped the pitch early as the first hitter of the game.”
Wareham has taken two of its last three games, both against West Division teams, and now has reached the double-digit points mark on the summer The Gatemen sit just two points behind the Kettleers and nine from the leading Falmouth Commodores.
After three straight divisional matchups, Wareham heads to Chatham on Tuesday. The Gatemen take on historic Veterans Field for the first time in 2026.
