On Wednesday evening, the Anglers salvaged a 1-1 tie against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox when a suicide squeeze attempt by Luke Waddell (Georgia Tech) with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth backfired, and the ball flew straight into the glove of Chatham pitcher RJ Freure, who doubled up Micah Pries (Point Loma Nazarene) at third base to escape the jam.

While a ballgame ending in a tie never feels right, the Anglers (0-1-1) will take it, as they avoid starting the season with consecutive losses.

On Thursday, Chatham hopes to earn its first win of the season, when it travels northwest to face the defending Cape League champion Brewster Whitecaps (0-1) at 5 p.m. at Stony Brook Field.

Cody Bradford (Baylor) is set to make his first start of the season for the Anglers. In his sophomore season at Baylor, the left-hander was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Year after making 14 starts, posting a 2.51 earned run average and winning seven games. In addition, the rising junior more-than-doubled his strikeout total from his freshman campaign, tallying 87 punch outs on the year.  

While Bradford is scheduled to start, Anglers manager Tom Holliday intends to limit him to four innings before using another starter for the next four, a tactic the first-year manager has used in Chatham’s first two games.

“Some of the kids have been starting all year,” Holliday said. “Coaches have hesitations about how many innings, how many pitches, and all that. I’m trying to work two starters into every game plan and then hopefully we have to use a closer.”

The Anglers’ bats, which produced 10 hits in Tuesday’s loss to Wareham, were tamed by Red Sox pitchers Brant Hurter (Georgia Tech), Sam Kessler (West Virginia) and Alec Marsh (Arizona State). After Greg Jones’ solo-shot in the third inning, which gave Chatham its sole run of the evening, the Y-D pitching staff limited the visitors to two hits over the final six innings.

After opening its season with a 1-10 drubbing to Cotuit on Tuesday, Brewster’s second contest of the season against Orleans was postponed due to rain.

In their loss to the Kettleers, Whitecaps’ starting pitcher Ashton Raines (Bloomsburg) allowed five runs on six hits in the first inning before being pulled by manager Jamie Shevchik.

After a misty Wednesday afternoon saw three of the CCBL’s five games postponed, both sides will get to enjoy Thursday’s sunny, 70-degree weather as they aim for their first win of the summer.