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Gatemen pitching falters, Whitecaps roll 8-1


Gatemen pitching falters, Whitecaps roll 8-1


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BREWSTER – The Brewster Whitecaps entered play last night the worst team in the Cape Cod League and it is not even close. Brewster had just 11 points on the season which was 10 points behind the second worst team.
In addition, the Whitecaps have the worst ERA, worst fielding percentage, and fewest runs in the league. By just about every metric, the Whitecaps are the clear cellar dwellers of the Cape.
However, someone forgot to remind the Whitecaps of the standings last night.
Brewster defeated the first place Wareham Gatemen by a score of 8-1 in a game that was not very close. The win for Brewster comes off the heels of a loss to the Gatemen in their previous contest as Wareham won on Monday 4-1.
“The pitching set the tone. That’ll sap your energy right out and their pitcher did a good job. I was just telling my hitters good hitting is contagious and so is bad hitting,” Don Sneddon said.
RHP Tyler Ahearn made his first start of the summer and he did not last very long. Ahearn pitched three innings giving up two runs on four hits and one walk.
Ahearn gave up his first run of the day in the first when Jesse Franklin set the tempo for the day with a two out, RBI double to plate a run and give Brewster a 1-0 lead.
An inning later, LF Dominic Canzone, who would finish the day 4-5, recorded his second hit of the afternoon when he singled with two outs to bring home another run.
In the third, Ahearn retired the side in order before passing the torch to RHP Jack Ralston. Ralston lasted just 0.1 innings and gave up four runs in the frame. The first three Whitecaps reached base safely before Ralston recorded the first out. DH Brandon Martorano singled to plate one run and Canzone drove in a run with an RBI single, his third hit in the first four innings.
Following a RF Ray Alejo walk, Raslton’s night was over. RHP Brendan White came in and allowed both of the inherited runners to score. By the end of the fourth, Brewster was ahead 6-0.
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Brendan White was one of the lone bright spots for Wareham tonight going 4.2 IP out of the pen (via Caroline O’Connor).
In the fifth, Brewster tacked on two more runs to extend the lead to 8-0.
As for the Brewster pitching, LHP Chris Murphy got the start and went five scoreless innings to record the win. Murphy was not stellar by any stretch of the imagination as he allowed eight men to reach base, which resulted in him throwing 110 pitches over his five innings.
Even though he put numerous runners on base, Murphy buckled down when he needed to and allowed none of them to score.
In the top of the fifth, Murphy made the pitch of the night against Lael Lockhart. With the bases loaded and two down, Murphy got Lockhart to ground out to first after battling for 11 pitches.
“One hit can change the whole game,” Sneddon said. “If you take away their leadoff hitter that got four hits we had the same amount of hits they did. But it does not work that way. One guy got hot and carried them; that’s all we needed too.”
The 8-0 score would hold all the way until the ninth when Skylar Hunter hit a double to plate the first and only Gatemen run of the night when they were down to their final out.
Despite a rough fourth and fifth inning, Brendan White settled down and was able to finish out the game for the Gatemen and save the bullpen on a day in which it looked like Wareham may burn through a plethora of arms.
White retired the final nine hitters he faced and ended up having a nice night in long relief for Wareham. White’s final line reap 4.2 innings pitched, two runs allowed (one earned), one walk, two hit batters, and four strikeouts.
“I am used to trying to drag out my innings and I was more comfortable with that. Going in I knew I wanted to finish the game right away. I just needed to settle in and keep my mindset like I was starting another ballgame,” White said on the Gatemen Postgame Show.
White’s appearance was his longest of the summer and his first in quite some time for Wareham. He had not pitched since July 2, over a week ago.
“It tough during the waiting but once your name gets called it immediately gets flushed and you’re excited to go in and that’s what I was,” White said. “I wanted to get my work in and stay locked in and maybe get an opportunity sooner next time.”
Going forward, Sneddon and the rest of the Gatemen know that the pitching performance they gave tonight will not cut it in the very competitive Cape League.
“Our pitching has too get better. It’s a very simple formula. We have three good rotations for the most part. Our fourth and fifth rotation games have to get better. We can’t win with the way it’s been done,” Sneddon said.
Final: Whitecaps 8, Gatemen 1
Next up: The Gatemen (15-11) go on the road again tonight to play the Chatham Anglers (12-11-2). First pitch at 7:00 p.m. at Veterans Field in Chatham.