Chatham meets Cotuit for second time in three games

by Peter Warren, 07-23-2018

With the All-Star Game in the rearview mirror, the final stretch of the regular season for the Chatham Anglers (18-15-2) gets started with today’s matchup with the Cotuit Kettleers (15-16-3).

In Sunday’s CCBL All-Star Game, Tristin English (Georgia Tech) and John Rave (Illinois State) led the way for the East Division, which lost to the West, 4-3. Both players finished the game 2-for-4 with a run scored. On the mound, Greg Veliz (Miami) needed only seven pitches in a 1-2-3 seventh inning and Dan Hammer (Pittsburgh) started the game for the East. Blake Sabol (Southern California) started the game at catcher and went 0-for-2.

Before the All-Star Game, Sabol and Spencer Torkelson (Arizona State) participated in the Home Run Hitting Contest. Sabol and Torkelson each advanced to the final round, where they were bested by Torkelson’s college teammate, Carter Aldrete (Arizona State) of the Orleans Firebirds. Aldrete hit 11 homers in the final round, while Torkelson hit 10 and Sabol popped seven.

Chatham comes into Monday’s matchup riding a three-game winning streak. The win streak started with a 17-3 annihilation of the Brewster Whitecaps on Thursday. The Anglers notched 12 hits and drew a season-high 15 walks in the victory.

Cotuit and Chatham went down to the wire in a feisty Friday contest at Lowell Park. Down 7-0 after two innings, the A’s gradually battled back. After scoring three runs in the third, two runs in the fourth, a run in the fifth and two runs in the seventh, the Anglers found themselves down 9-8 heading into the eighth inning.

Because Lowell Park does not have lights, the umpires concluded that the eighth inning was going to be the last.Torkelson immediately tied the contest at nine with a round-tripper in the first at-bat of the frame. Jorge Arenas (Stetson) then blooped an RBI single later in the inning to give Chatham a 10-9 lead.

The A’s most recent win came Saturday against the division-leading Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Chatham won the game 7-3 behind two home runs from Michael Busch (North Carolina) and a three-run bomb from English.