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Chatham extends losing skid to 3 in 7-6 road loss to Wareham
WAREHAM, Mass. — The Gatemen have had a really rough go of it this summer. Entering Monday, every single team in the Cape Cod Baseball League had scored a run except one, and the aberration was Wareham. Scoring runs is hard on the Cape, and it’s been nearly impossible for the Gatemen as they’ve opened their season.
“Well,” A’s head coach Dennis Cook said postgame, “I think that it's not normal where a team gets shut out two times in a row.”
It isn’t always that difficult. For a moment, Chatham proved that. On Monday, it took the Anglers one inning to do what Wareham had failed to do in 18: score.
With just one out in the top of the first, Connor Shouse (Texas Tech) doubled to bring Jacob Parker (Mississippi State) to the plate. Just one pitch later, the freshman brought Shouse home with a single in his first career Cape League at bat.
But after that rally, runs were harder to come by for Chatham (0-3, East) than they were for Wareham (1-2, West). The Anglers were held scoreless for the next five innings in their 7-6 loss at Spillane Field Monday. In that span, the Gatemen broke their lengthy scoring drought and outpaced the A’s bats by 5-0 margin, and prolonged Chatham’s wait for its first win of the season. The Anglers are now the only winless team on the Cape.
“What did we have, nine hits?” Cook said as he looked back at the Spillane Field scoreboard, trying to confirm his guess. “You know, we had multiple opportunities with runners in scoring position. They got the base hit with runners in scoring position, and we didn't. That's the difference.”
In all fairness, it’s a difference that wasn’t apparent early on. Chris Ramirez (Cal Baptist) opened the first inning with a single for the Gatemen, but Chatham starter Oliver Pudvar (UConn) made sure he got nowhere.
He wasn’t much of a strikeout pitcher for the Huskies this past spring, punching out an average of 5.9 hitters per nine innings, but his swing and miss stuff seemed to translate better to the Cape. Pudvar struck out four over his first two innings of work, and held them scoreless in the third as well, extending Wareham’s season-opening scoreless drought to 21 innings.
“I think (Pudvar) did a good job tonight,” Cook said. “He was aggressive in the strike zone early.”
But that dubious drought — and Pudvar’s shutout — ended in inning No. 22.
He began the bottom of the fourth by giving up a double to Dylan Dubovik (Miami). After a sacrifice fly from Tony Lira (Arizona), the lefty gave up the Gatemen’s first run of the season on a groundout by Wachs. All of a sudden, the game was anyone’s to win, tied up at 1-1.
And it became Wareham’s to win in the fifth. Pudvar opened the frame by walking Kade Elam (Louisville), hit Foster Apple (Stetson) squarely on the arm in his next plate appearance, and loaded the bases with no outs after letting up a single to Ramirez.
“He got a little bit out of whack in the fifth inning,” Cook said postgame. “But I was impressed with him. I thought he threw the ball good.”
Cook pulled Pudvar from the game after that, replacing him with righty Gavin DeVooght (Michigan), but the switch didn’t preserve the deadlock. He began his Cape League debut by walking Hamilton to drive in Elam, and a subsequent Linkin Garcia (Texas) groundout added a third run onto the scoreboard for the Gatemen.
Dubovik — who scored Wareham’s first run of the season the inning before — only added to the Anglers’ trouble in the fifth, singling off DeVooght to drive in Ramirez. The A’s reliever got Lira to strike out soon after to end the inning, but not before conceding a 4-1 lead to the Gatemen.
And even without the burden of inherited runners, DeVooght wasn’t able to keep Wareham off the board in the sixth. With one out in the frame, Coen Niclai (Arizona State) blasted a no-doubt solo home run into the Spillane Field parking lot off of the Chatham righty, making it a 5-1 deficit for the A’s.
In the top of the seventh, Shouse returned the favor with his fourth hit of the game. The bloop into right led to a throwing error by Dubovik, which subsequently plated Rett Johnson (NC State) and Tyler Lichtenberger (Clemson) to cut Wareham’s lead to 5-3. The next at bat, Cooper Neville (Alabama) hit a fielder’s choice to drive in the red-hot Chatham designated hitter.
But after escaping the jam with a 5-4 lead, the Gatemen continued to distance themselves in the following frame. Josh Swink (Liberty) — a CCBL All-Star for Chatham last summer — didn’t have as strong of an introduction to the Cape this summer. The lefty replaced DeVooght in the bottom of the seventh, gave up an RBI double to Garcia that plated the Gatemen’s sixth run, and he coughed up a single to Lira that gave Wareham a seventh.
While Nolan Traeger’s (TCU/Transfer) pinch-hit RBI single helped Chatham cut into that deficit in the following inning, the Anglers couldn’t claw all the way back. With runners on the corners, Shouse grounded out to end the rally, and the Gatemen exited the eighth holding the lead.
Wareham exited the ninth holding it, too. Parker reached on an error to lead off the frame for Chatham, and he scored on a groundout soon after, but Braydon Kercey (Mercer) ultimately did just enough to shut the door on Chatham’s hope at a comeback. It is now three games into the season, and the A’s are the only team on the Cape still searching for their first win.
They'll have 37 more to find it.
“Well,” A’s head coach Dennis Cook said postgame, “I think that it's not normal where a team gets shut out two times in a row.”
It isn’t always that difficult. For a moment, Chatham proved that. On Monday, it took the Anglers one inning to do what Wareham had failed to do in 18: score.
With just one out in the top of the first, Connor Shouse (Texas Tech) doubled to bring Jacob Parker (Mississippi State) to the plate. Just one pitch later, the freshman brought Shouse home with a single in his first career Cape League at bat.
But after that rally, runs were harder to come by for Chatham (0-3, East) than they were for Wareham (1-2, West). The Anglers were held scoreless for the next five innings in their 7-6 loss at Spillane Field Monday. In that span, the Gatemen broke their lengthy scoring drought and outpaced the A’s bats by 5-0 margin, and prolonged Chatham’s wait for its first win of the season. The Anglers are now the only winless team on the Cape.
“What did we have, nine hits?” Cook said as he looked back at the Spillane Field scoreboard, trying to confirm his guess. “You know, we had multiple opportunities with runners in scoring position. They got the base hit with runners in scoring position, and we didn't. That's the difference.”
In all fairness, it’s a difference that wasn’t apparent early on. Chris Ramirez (Cal Baptist) opened the first inning with a single for the Gatemen, but Chatham starter Oliver Pudvar (UConn) made sure he got nowhere.
He wasn’t much of a strikeout pitcher for the Huskies this past spring, punching out an average of 5.9 hitters per nine innings, but his swing and miss stuff seemed to translate better to the Cape. Pudvar struck out four over his first two innings of work, and held them scoreless in the third as well, extending Wareham’s season-opening scoreless drought to 21 innings.
“I think (Pudvar) did a good job tonight,” Cook said. “He was aggressive in the strike zone early.”
But that dubious drought — and Pudvar’s shutout — ended in inning No. 22.
He began the bottom of the fourth by giving up a double to Dylan Dubovik (Miami). After a sacrifice fly from Tony Lira (Arizona), the lefty gave up the Gatemen’s first run of the season on a groundout by Wachs. All of a sudden, the game was anyone’s to win, tied up at 1-1.
And it became Wareham’s to win in the fifth. Pudvar opened the frame by walking Kade Elam (Louisville), hit Foster Apple (Stetson) squarely on the arm in his next plate appearance, and loaded the bases with no outs after letting up a single to Ramirez.
“He got a little bit out of whack in the fifth inning,” Cook said postgame. “But I was impressed with him. I thought he threw the ball good.”
Cook pulled Pudvar from the game after that, replacing him with righty Gavin DeVooght (Michigan), but the switch didn’t preserve the deadlock. He began his Cape League debut by walking Hamilton to drive in Elam, and a subsequent Linkin Garcia (Texas) groundout added a third run onto the scoreboard for the Gatemen.
Dubovik — who scored Wareham’s first run of the season the inning before — only added to the Anglers’ trouble in the fifth, singling off DeVooght to drive in Ramirez. The A’s reliever got Lira to strike out soon after to end the inning, but not before conceding a 4-1 lead to the Gatemen.
And even without the burden of inherited runners, DeVooght wasn’t able to keep Wareham off the board in the sixth. With one out in the frame, Coen Niclai (Arizona State) blasted a no-doubt solo home run into the Spillane Field parking lot off of the Chatham righty, making it a 5-1 deficit for the A’s.
In the top of the seventh, Shouse returned the favor with his fourth hit of the game. The bloop into right led to a throwing error by Dubovik, which subsequently plated Rett Johnson (NC State) and Tyler Lichtenberger (Clemson) to cut Wareham’s lead to 5-3. The next at bat, Cooper Neville (Alabama) hit a fielder’s choice to drive in the red-hot Chatham designated hitter.
But after escaping the jam with a 5-4 lead, the Gatemen continued to distance themselves in the following frame. Josh Swink (Liberty) — a CCBL All-Star for Chatham last summer — didn’t have as strong of an introduction to the Cape this summer. The lefty replaced DeVooght in the bottom of the seventh, gave up an RBI double to Garcia that plated the Gatemen’s sixth run, and he coughed up a single to Lira that gave Wareham a seventh.
While Nolan Traeger’s (TCU/Transfer) pinch-hit RBI single helped Chatham cut into that deficit in the following inning, the Anglers couldn’t claw all the way back. With runners on the corners, Shouse grounded out to end the rally, and the Gatemen exited the eighth holding the lead.
Wareham exited the ninth holding it, too. Parker reached on an error to lead off the frame for Chatham, and he scored on a groundout soon after, but Braydon Kercey (Mercer) ultimately did just enough to shut the door on Chatham’s hope at a comeback. It is now three games into the season, and the A’s are the only team on the Cape still searching for their first win.
They'll have 37 more to find it.
