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Chatham’s playoff chances dim with 9-0 road loss to Wareham
WAREHAM, Mass. — Tick, tock.
The clock strikes louder on the Anglers’ postseason chances after every loss. Entering Tuesday’s game against Wareham, they trailed Orleans by five points for fourth place — the final playoff spot — in the Cape Cod Baseball League’s East Division. They played like it, too. Strong hacks early in counts, stealing third when the opportunity presents itself, no hesitation to make calls to the bullpen; the A’s were all hands on deck.
But they weren’t the better team. Again. As the clock menacingly ticks down on their season, the gap continues to widen — due to Orleans’ 2-1 victory over Harwich Tuesday. With five regular-season games left, seven points is the difference between the Anglers making the playoffs or going home early.
Chatham (14-18-3, East) suffered its second consecutive loss in a 9-0 defeat to Wareham (19-16, West) at Spillane Field. A three-run third inning where the Gatemen laced two home runs proved too much for the Anglers to overcome. The A’s committed more errors (three) than hits (one) and got an inconsistent performance out of starting pitcher Jacob Turner (Bowling Green). In the final three innings, the Anglers only saw 26 pitches.
It was a recipe for disappointment.
“I didn’t think we were competitive offensively,” Chatham manager Dennis Cook said postgame. “I think defensively, we weren’t competitive either.”
Because of the Firebirds’ win, the Anglers are two losses away from being eliminated from playoff contention. In other words, they need to win at least four of their last five games.
Without much room for error — one more head-to-head loss to Orleans alone would essentially eliminate Chatham from the playoffs — its path to make the postseason is difficult to imagine.
There’s not a whole lot going right for the Anglers right now. They’re down to nine position players. They’re down to three active hitters with an OPS above .700 and only one with a mark of .800 or more. They’ve been prone to inexcusable fielding errors. And, since switching to what Cook refers to as an “MLB-style” pitching staff, they've been marred by mound inconsistencies.
All those issues showed face on Tuesday.
Wareham lefty TJ Schlageter allowed one hit and walked two Anglers across 3.0 shutout innings of work. Chatham produced nothing but weak contact against him. As soon as the A’s did some damage versus Schlageter, with Daniel Jackson (Georgia) and Chase Fralick (Auburn) reaching base via a walk and single to begin the fourth inning, Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth swapped him for right-hander Tommy Egan.
Jackson was promptly caught stealing third. Then Egan retired Roman Martin (UCLA) and Reed Stallman (Mississippi State) to end the frame.
From the fourth inning on, Chatham did not register a hit.
It could be inferred the Anglers had the scoreboard on their minds when stepping up in the batter’s box down the stretch. They trailed 4-0 after Wareham’s Chase Krewson tallied a first-inning RBI groundout, followed by solo and two-run homers from Hayden Yost and Caden McDonald, respectively, off Turner in the third.
Turner finished the game with 5.0 innings pitched, but he gave up five runs and seven hits. One of his two unearned runs came in the fifth inning, where Gatemen first baseman Chris McHugh reached base on an error by Martin at third and later scored on a wild pitch. The run wasn’t directly Turner’s fault. But Cook, a former 15-year MLB reliever, wasn’t having any of it.
“Gosh bless it,” Cook said to himself in the dugout while shaking his head in disgust.
With shortstop Isaiah Lane (San Diego) and first baseman Jackson having previously committed errors, Cook began to pace around the dugout midway through the contest. Chatham trailed 5-0 entering the top of the sixth as Wareham righty Canaan Clayton trotted to the mound. He certainly didn’t mince words when assessing the Anglers’ effort up until then.
“C’mon, let’s get a little life!” Cook commanded his team. “Let’s pick it up a bit!”
In response, Chatham’s offense went down 1-2-3, courtesy of a popout by Cade Arrambide (LSU), a flyout by Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) and a swinging strikeout from Jackson. The bottom of the sixth saw Wareham plate four runs versus A’s reliever Will Patterson (Abilene Christian), one of which came off a balk called by third-base umpire Al Libardoni.
There were no words of inspiration that could scoop the Anglers out of the mud Tuesday. Each inning went just about the same as the last. As playoff elimination becomes exponentially more likely, little time remains for Chatham to find a magical spark to turn its season around.
“Just finish the season, compete hard, and see what happens,” Cook said of his message to the players postgame. “Whatever happens happens in these last five games.”
The clock strikes louder on the Anglers’ postseason chances after every loss. Entering Tuesday’s game against Wareham, they trailed Orleans by five points for fourth place — the final playoff spot — in the Cape Cod Baseball League’s East Division. They played like it, too. Strong hacks early in counts, stealing third when the opportunity presents itself, no hesitation to make calls to the bullpen; the A’s were all hands on deck.
But they weren’t the better team. Again. As the clock menacingly ticks down on their season, the gap continues to widen — due to Orleans’ 2-1 victory over Harwich Tuesday. With five regular-season games left, seven points is the difference between the Anglers making the playoffs or going home early.
Chatham (14-18-3, East) suffered its second consecutive loss in a 9-0 defeat to Wareham (19-16, West) at Spillane Field. A three-run third inning where the Gatemen laced two home runs proved too much for the Anglers to overcome. The A’s committed more errors (three) than hits (one) and got an inconsistent performance out of starting pitcher Jacob Turner (Bowling Green). In the final three innings, the Anglers only saw 26 pitches.
It was a recipe for disappointment.
“I didn’t think we were competitive offensively,” Chatham manager Dennis Cook said postgame. “I think defensively, we weren’t competitive either.”
Because of the Firebirds’ win, the Anglers are two losses away from being eliminated from playoff contention. In other words, they need to win at least four of their last five games.
Without much room for error — one more head-to-head loss to Orleans alone would essentially eliminate Chatham from the playoffs — its path to make the postseason is difficult to imagine.
There’s not a whole lot going right for the Anglers right now. They’re down to nine position players. They’re down to three active hitters with an OPS above .700 and only one with a mark of .800 or more. They’ve been prone to inexcusable fielding errors. And, since switching to what Cook refers to as an “MLB-style” pitching staff, they've been marred by mound inconsistencies.
All those issues showed face on Tuesday.
Wareham lefty TJ Schlageter allowed one hit and walked two Anglers across 3.0 shutout innings of work. Chatham produced nothing but weak contact against him. As soon as the A’s did some damage versus Schlageter, with Daniel Jackson (Georgia) and Chase Fralick (Auburn) reaching base via a walk and single to begin the fourth inning, Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth swapped him for right-hander Tommy Egan.
Jackson was promptly caught stealing third. Then Egan retired Roman Martin (UCLA) and Reed Stallman (Mississippi State) to end the frame.
From the fourth inning on, Chatham did not register a hit.
It could be inferred the Anglers had the scoreboard on their minds when stepping up in the batter’s box down the stretch. They trailed 4-0 after Wareham’s Chase Krewson tallied a first-inning RBI groundout, followed by solo and two-run homers from Hayden Yost and Caden McDonald, respectively, off Turner in the third.
Turner finished the game with 5.0 innings pitched, but he gave up five runs and seven hits. One of his two unearned runs came in the fifth inning, where Gatemen first baseman Chris McHugh reached base on an error by Martin at third and later scored on a wild pitch. The run wasn’t directly Turner’s fault. But Cook, a former 15-year MLB reliever, wasn’t having any of it.
“Gosh bless it,” Cook said to himself in the dugout while shaking his head in disgust.
With shortstop Isaiah Lane (San Diego) and first baseman Jackson having previously committed errors, Cook began to pace around the dugout midway through the contest. Chatham trailed 5-0 entering the top of the sixth as Wareham righty Canaan Clayton trotted to the mound. He certainly didn’t mince words when assessing the Anglers’ effort up until then.
“C’mon, let’s get a little life!” Cook commanded his team. “Let’s pick it up a bit!”
In response, Chatham’s offense went down 1-2-3, courtesy of a popout by Cade Arrambide (LSU), a flyout by Jackson Freeman (Northwestern) and a swinging strikeout from Jackson. The bottom of the sixth saw Wareham plate four runs versus A’s reliever Will Patterson (Abilene Christian), one of which came off a balk called by third-base umpire Al Libardoni.
There were no words of inspiration that could scoop the Anglers out of the mud Tuesday. Each inning went just about the same as the last. As playoff elimination becomes exponentially more likely, little time remains for Chatham to find a magical spark to turn its season around.
“Just finish the season, compete hard, and see what happens,” Cook said of his message to the players postgame. “Whatever happens happens in these last five games.”
