Chatham, Mass. — When Sean Bouchard stepped up to the plate in the sixth inning for the Chatham Anglers on Wednesday, the UCLA infielder already felt an added sense of pressure after Cotuit right fielder A.J. Balta robbed Bouchard of a homerun in his last at-bat. Cranking a deep drive to right field in the third inning, Bouchard watched helplessly as Balta reached over the fence and took away what would be the go ahead run for the A’s.

However, the third baseman remained composed and focused three innings later and, on the second pitch of the at-bat, Bouchard got a hold of a Ross Achter pitch and deposited over the wall in right field to give the Anglers a 2-1 lead.

“Initially when it came off my bat I knew I hit it well, but I was just thinking to myself ‘please don’t catch this one,’” said Bouchard. “And then when I saw him stop I knew it had a chance to get out, and finally it did. It’s kind of a feeling of relief to know that he caught the last one, but it finally landed over the fence.”

Bouchard’s home run would prove the difference maker as Chatham won their second consecutive game on Wednesday night, defeating Cotuit, 2-1. With the win and a Brewster loss, Chatham (13-19-1) is now just a half a game out of the final playoff spot in the East Division.

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Andrew Karp (1-2) got the win for the Anglers after pitching six full innings, allowing one run on three hits.

The win was the first in the CCBL for Karp, who surrendered a first-pitch homerun to Quinn Brodey, but then settled down, striking out four Kettleers on the night. In six innings of work, Karp threw just 69 pitches.

“This is huge for him because he was such a high profile kid coming out of high school and then he had the car accident, and then he had some injuries this spring, so he’s pitched nine college innings,” said A’s manager John Schiffner of his Florida State pitcher. 

“To go from missing a whole year, to missing a lot of this past year, and to come down to the Cape Cod League, and throw like he did, it’s tremendous and it’s going to be tremendous for his confidence going back to school.”

Achter (2-1) took the loss for Cotuit after allowing both Chatham runs following three scoreless frames from starter Rio Gomez.

After Cotuit (11-21-1) jumped out to the early lead, the Anglers threatened by putting a runner on third with one out in the first before loading the bases in the second. Both times Chatham came up empty.

The Anglers eventually broke through on Achter’s first pitch as Patrick Mathis turned on one for his fourth homerun of the summer. The Texas Longhorn ripped the first pitch of the fourth inning over the wall in right-center field to tie the score at one just two innings before Bouchard’s blast gave Chatham the lead.

The back-to-back wins were the first since June 24-25 for Chatham as the A’s will now look to win three straight games for the first time all season on Thursday against Wareham. First pitch is at 6:30 p.m. on the Cape Cod Baseball Network.