Daily Fog: Fireworks Shows

In thinking back on the season so far, I'm pretty sure I haven't written much of anything yet about offense. That's par for the course in the early going, and with more dominant pitching performances than usual, it's tough to focus on anything else.

But the offense is starting to have its say. Some big hitters have arrived and some others who have been on the Cape from the beginning have caught up.

Yesterday, on the Fourth of July, they sent off some fireworks.

Yes, there was a pitchers' duel in Chatham, but in all the other games, offense reigned. In total, teams combined for 78 hits, 27 extra-base hits and five home runs. Though no teams reached double digits in runs, three of them got to double digits in hits.

The coordinators of the fireworks shows: Cody Hawn, the Bourne Braves and the Brewster Whitecaps.

Hawn (Tennessee), who missed several games earlier this week, is back in the lineup and crushing the ball. He went 2-for-3 last night against Y-D with two home runs. I believe that's the first two-home run game of the summer. Hawn is now hitting .346 and is tied for the league lead with four home runs. His blasts yesterday helped power Hyannis to a 6-4 victory. Hawn's teammate Nick Crawford (UAB) went 2-for-4 to up his league-best average to .400. For Y-D, Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) went 4-for-5 with two doubles.

In Bourne, the Braves didn't hit a home run, but made up for it with six doubles in a 9-1 win over Wareham. Ben Klafczynski (Kent State) went 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI, and Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBI. Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Stefen Romero (Oregon State) also hit doubles. Robert Morey (Virginia) picked up the win for the Braves with five strong innings. Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) worked out of the pen for the first time, picking up three strikeouts in two innings.

Finally, in Brewster, the Whitecaps took Harwich's streak of three straight shutouts and turned it on its head. The Whitecaps pounded 14 hits en route to a 7-4 victory. Lyle Allen (Georgia) went 4-for-4 to lead the way, and Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) hit his second home run in six games. John Barr (Virginia) and Daniel Butler (Arizona) had two hits apiece. The Whitecaps did most of their damage against Rob Gariano (Fairfield), who had been lights out so far. They touched him up for five runs in one-plus inning of work. Scott Alexander (Pepperdine) got the win for Brewster.

Elsewhere

There was a little offense -- but more pitching -- in Falmouth, where Cotuit came to town and topped the Commodores 5-1 behind a dominant performance by Seth Blair (Arizona State). Making his first start of the summer since arriving from the College World Series, the '08 Cape League all-star turned in the first nine-inning complete game in the league this year. He struck out six, didn't walk anybody and allowed a run on five hits. He was backed by a home run from Kevin Patterson (Auburn) and two RBI from Chris Bisson (Kentucky).

As for that pitcher's duel in Chatham, Orleans came away with a 1-0 victory in 10 innings. Matt Koch (Loyola Marymount) doubled and Ross Heffley (Western Carolina) brought him in with a base hit in the 10th. The starting pitchers were the stars of the night, with Orleans' Rob Rasmussen (UCLA) allowing three hits in seven shutout innings and Chatham's Matt Harvey (North Carolina) giving up three hits in six shutout innings. Jesse Hahn (Virginia Tech) also shined, striking out five in three innings of relief for Chatham.

What to Watch For Tonight

Bourne has surged into first place in the West, and the Braves will try to stay there as they visit third-place Wareham. Eric Cantrell (George Washington) and his 24:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio goes for the Braves against Wareham's Blake Monar (Indiana), who has a 2.81 ERA in three starts.