Three consecutive losses has set Chatham back 4.5 games of the Cape Cod Baseball League East Division leaders, Yarmouth-Dennis. The Anglers’ nine points is the lowest of any team in the CCBL. Falmouth sits just one spot above the A’s with 10 points and one more tie.

Before the Anglers’ third consecutive defeat—an 8–2 loss at Doran Park to Bourne—Chatham manager Tom Holliday took the blame for failing to organize a team around players who want to stay with the ballclub throughout the entire summer. He said there are too many components of the roster that are shifting, and it’s up to him to sort out his own mess.

While roster reconstruction could be imminent for the Anglers (4–10–1 East) in the coming weeks or even days, here are all the pre-game notes before Chatham visits Falmouth (4–10–2 West):

Probable Starters

Tommy Molsky (Penn State): Molsky struggled in his first outing against Cotuit on June 15. Equipped with a 2–0 Anglers lead, the Nittany Lion allowed seven earned runs in an eventual 10–3 loss. But in his second appearance facing Wareham, coming in as a reliever for Texas’ Tanner Witt, Molsky fared much better, allowing just one run while tallying three strikeouts.

Logan Van Treeck (Lipscomb): Van Treeck, a six-foot-five, 220-pound hurler, owns a 6.75 ERA through three showings with the Commodores. While the lefty produced four strikeouts and just one earned run in his first two outings, Van Treeck gave up six earned runs on five hits and a walk in his most recent appearance, a 3.1-inning showing in a 12–1 loss at Cotuit.

Chatham Players to Watch

Aidan Meola (Oklahoma State): Meola’s season has been something of a carousel, but he squared up two hits in four at-bats during Chatham’s loss at Doran Park on Wednesday, leading the A’s bats for the night. If the six-foot-two righty batter can limit the strikeouts—his count is up at 10—and can find the barrel, he has shown he can spray the ball to vacant spots on the field.

Kaeden Kent (Texas A&M): Holliday described Kent as a caged-up tiger before the 2023 season got underway, and it appears so as of late. After going hitless in back-to-back games at Wareham on June 23 and at Brewster on June 25, respectively, Kent knocked two hits in four at-bats against the Red Sox on June 26. In Wednesday’s 8–2 loss to the Braves, Kent tip-toed in as a pinch hitter in the top of the ninth inning and blasted a clean-looking single to center field to go 1–1 on the day.

Falmouth Players to Watch

Gavin Kilen (Louisville): Kilen recorded one of his seven total RBIs in 2023 on Wednesday to help the Commodores obtain just their fourth win of the season. Last time Falmouth faced Chatham, Kilen tacked on a single in the top of the eighth inning to spoil the Anglers’ hopes of a shutout victory.

Kyle DeBarge (Louisiana Lafayette): DeBarge has charted six RBIs in just 10 hits this season. Coming into Thursday on a two-game hitting streak, DeBarge notched one barrel in four at-bats in Wednesday’s 4–3 away win at Orleans and was responsible for Falmouth’s lone run in a 3–1 loss to Hyannis on Tuesday.

Number to Know: 10

In last night’s matchup with Bourne, Chatham’s pitching staff walked 10 total batters, the most in a single game this season. Late in the game, Holliday was so short on relief pitchers that he opted to insert Austin Peay’s Lyle Miller-Green onto the bump from right field. Miller-Green proceeded to throw a scoreless inning.

Last Time They Played

On June 24, Chatham defeated Falmouth 4–1 behind near-perfect pitching from starter Gabe Davis and reliever Jack Sokol.

Davis, the rising Oklahoma State sophomore, recorded five strikeouts in four innings without conceding any hits. Sokol, meanwhile, generated nine strikeouts and gave up just one earned run.

On the offensive side, a two-run home run from Xavier Casserilla in the bottom of the fifth put the Anglers ahead 2–0 before hits from Chris Maldonado and Nolan Schubart in the eighth frame secured an A’s victory.