daily fog: powerful whitecaps

Cotuit may be the best-hitting team in the league, but when it comes to home runs, not even the Kettleers can keep up with Brewster.

The Whitecaps hit two more home runs last night to bring their league-leading total to 11. James Meador (San Diego) hit his second and Connor Powers (Mississippi State) hit his third, powering Brewster to a 5-0 victory over Harwich. The win gave the Whitecaps sole possession of first place in the Eastern Division.

It also kept them well in front in the home run category. Cotuit is hanging in there with eight, but no other team has more than four. Yarmouth-Dennis, despite a strong offense, doesn't have any.

How are the Whitecaps doing it? Four players are taking care of everything. Powers, Ryan Wheeler (Loyola Marymount) and Nate Lape (Marshall) all have three and all find themselves among the top four home run hitters in the league. Meador has the other two.

It shouldn't be a surprise that those four players are delivering. All of them had great springs. Meador hit .380 with five home runs, Powers hit .348 with 11 home runs and Wheeler hit .345 with six home runs. The most impressive numbers, though, belonged to Lape, who hit .388 with 17 home runs for Marshall.

Lape is an interesting story. He's a junior who has spent the last two years at Marshall after transferring from North Carolina. Originally, he wasn't on the Brewster roster, but at 6'5 215 and showing this kind of power, he's been making a good impression.

As for Brewster, home runs weren't the only good thing. Starting pitcher Buddy Bauman gave the Whitecaps their best start of the year. The lefty from Missouri State allowed one hit in seven shutout innings, striking out six and walking three. Bauman had been Brewster's best starter, but this was his first win. He now has a 1.02 ERA with 15 strikeouts.

Elsewhere

• Someone finally beat Andrew Carraway -- barely. Orleans, which has a knack for doing just enough on offense, got one run off Carraway last night, and the pitching staff made that lead stand up. Rob Rasmussen (UCLA) went five innings and got the win, while four relievers kept the shutout intact. Carraway (Virginia), who was 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA, allowed only three hits in six innings, but was tagged with the loss. At the plate for Orleans, Angelo Songco (Loyola Marymount) did the damage with a fourth-inning RBI single.
  

• Cotuit kept on crushing the ball last night, beating Falmouth 9-2. Leadoff hitter Jason Kipnis (Arizona State) had his best day of the summer, going 4-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI. Kevin Patterson (Auburn) went 2-for-5 with three RBI and a home run, while Mike Bianucci (Auburn) took over the league lead in home runs with his fourth. Cotuit didn't need much in the way of pitching, but Matt Fairel (Florida State), making his first start since arriving from the College World Series, allowed just one run in six innings. Falmouth starter Jorge Reyes (Oregon State) had a tough night after a good showing in his first start.
  

• Wareham broke out of an offensive funk with a 9-3 victory over Chatham. In its previous five games combined, the Gatemen had scored eight runs. On this night, Cole Leonida (Georgia Tech) went 2-for-4 with three RBI and Aaron Baker (Oklahoma) went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Matt Way (Washington State) turned in a solid start for the Gatemen, allowing three runs in five innings while striking out eight. He's now tied for the league lead in strikeouts. For Chatham, Grant Green continued a hot stretch with a 3-for-5 day. He's now hitting .438, just behind the league lead.
  

• Bourne beat Y-D 8-3 in a rain-shortened game. Dusty Coleman (Wichita State), playing his third game since arriving from Team USA, went 3-for-4 with an RBI to pace a balanced Bourne attack. Four players drove in runs for the Braves.
  

What to Watch For

• Suddenly, pitching rotations are taking shape, as indicated by the pitching probables link on the league website. After a few weeks of scrambling, it looks like things are finally settling down.

• There are a couple of good match-ups tonight, headed by the one in Wareham. Harwich's Chris Manno (Duke) will go against the Gatemen, who send Max Perlman (Harvard) to the hill.
  

• Jerry Sullivan (Oral Roberrs) will finally (hopefully) make his first start for Y-D. He was scheduled to go last week but when the game got postponed by rain, his turn in the rotation was skipped. He will go against Falmouth in the game in Brockton.

• Speaking of the game in Brockton, here's a good article about it from the Quincy Patriot-Ledger.