Daily Fog: A Quick Duel

My parents are vacationing on the Cape so I went over this weekend to visit them, which didn't leave me any time to write yesterday. We did, however, have time to go to the Chatham game last night.

Not that we needed much time.

Wareham's Cole Green (Texas) and Chatham's Tyler Lyons (Oklahoma State) staged perhaps the best pitchers' duel of the summer, and it didn't take them long to do it. In a game that lasted just an hour and 54 minutes, Lyons and the Anglers came away with a 1-0 victory. Dean Green (Oklahoma State) hit a bases-loaded line drive that clipped the glove of a diving Ryan Pineda (Cal State Northridge) and brought home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

Though the one run ended up defining the game's result, the pitching was the real story.

Both Green and Lyons ended up with 11 strikeouts. If I had been keeping a scorebook, I could tell you how many were strikeouts looking. I wasn't but I can still tell you: it was a lot. Green and Lyons were constantly ahead and freezing hitters time and again. Lyons, in particular, had a knee-bukcling curveball that he kept dropping right into the zone with two strikes.

It was as impressive a pitchers' duel as I've seen in a long time. Both allowed just two hits. Lyons didn't walk anybody. After a while, it didn't seem possible that either team could break through. The teams had one hit apiece through the first six innings, and both of the players who reached were thrown out trying to steal second. When Brett Eibner (Arkansas) hit a two-out double in the eighth, it was the first time a player for either team had been to second base. Zach Wilson (Arizona State) hit a sinking line drive to center that looked like it might bring Eibner home, but Addison Johnson (Clemson) made a charging catch to keep things scoreless.

Chatham finally put something together in the ninth. Green started missing some spots, and I actually thought he got squeezed on a couple of pitches as he issued a pair of one-out walks. After a mound conference, he got real wild and walked Mike Murray (Wake Forest) on four pitchers, prompting a change. Jordan Swagerty (Arizona State) came in and faced Green, who crushed the line drive to second. Had Pineda somehow caught it, he would have doubled the runner off first. Instead, the ball rolled into right field and the game was over.

As we packed up to leave, I felt a pang of regret that I hadn't gotten to see Chatham flamethrower Jesse Hahn (Virginia Tech), who had been warming up in the late innings. If it had gone to extras, he probably would have been on the mound.

But then I realized: I saw all the pitching I needed to see.

Elsewhere

With Wareham's loss and their own 5-3 comeback victory over Bourne, Cotuit moved into a first-place tie in the West. The Kettleers trailed 3-2 going into the eighth but put up three runs to take a lead. An RBI single by Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech) brought home the go-ahead run and Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) drove in two more with a double. Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) then worked a scoreless ninth to secure the victory. Rowland and Plagman both finished with two hits for the Kettleers, as did Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington) and Chris Bisson (Kentucky). Rob Segedin (Tulane) went 3-for-4 with an RBI for Bourne.

Y-D swept a huge doubleheader with Orleans for its league-best 18th and 19th wins. The Red Sox are now in first place by four points over the Firebirds, who had been hot until last night. Y-D got strong pitching in both games, with Mario Hollands (UC Santa Barbara) going five shutout innings in game one and Austin Ross (LSU) tossing six shutout frames in game two.

Brewster an Falmouth split their doubleheader, with the Whitecaps taking game one 2-1 and the Commodores winning game two 3-0. In the opener, Brewster got two RBI from Daniel Butler (Arizona) and didn't need much more. Kyle Blair (San Diego) allowed a run on three hits in six innings and struck out 11. Jordan Cooper (Wichita State) pitched well for Falmouth, but the bullpen allowed an unearned run in the sixth. In game two, Mark Pope (Georgia Tech) surrendered just two hits in five shutout innings for Falmouth. B.A. Vollmuth (Southern Miss) hit his second home run to spark the offense.

Harwich got a big performance from Anthony Sosnoskie (Virginia Tech) and a strong start from John Gast (Florida State) then held on for a 4-2 victory over Hyannis. Gast allowed four hits in 6.1 scoreless innings. Hyannis rallied for two in the ninth, but Glen Troyanowski (Florida Atlantic) got a strikeout to strand two runners and end the game. Sosnoskie went 3-for-4 with two home runs -- his first two of the year -- and three RBI for the Mariners.

What to Watch For Tonight

Orleans and Y-D will get together again for their third game in two days. Not sure about the pitching match-ups, though Chris Sale (Flodia Gulf Coast) is listed in the probables. Jorge Reyes (Oregon State) is listed for Orleans, but he pitched the second game of yesterday's doubleheader.