Daily Fog: Streaking

A hot team met a cold team in the West last night, and the results were predictable.

Hyannis beat Cotuit 6-3. It's the third straight win for the Mets and the fifth straight loss for the Kettleers. Those two streaks have caused some upheaval in the standings. Hyannis has moved into third place, just two points out of second. Cotuit, who has been near the top all summer, now finds itself in fourth.

Cotuit had Seth Blair (Arizona State) on the mound in this one, and he might have been able to serve as a stopper if not for some shaky defense behind him. The Kettleers made four errors, and only half of the Mets' runs were earned.

Though the Mets are in the middle of the pack in team batting average, they're not a team that you want to provide with extra outs. Their big three -- Nick Crawford (UAB), Ryan Cuneo (Delaware) and Cody Hawn (Tennessee) -- are as good an offensive trio as there is in the league this summer. They delivered last night, with Cuneo going 3-for-4 and Hawn and Crawford each going 2-for-5.

Cuneo and Hawn are still one-two on the RBI leaderboard, and they've particularly strong in the Mets' win streak. The last two games, they've combined to go 8-for-16 with four runs scored and five RBI. That's some solid production from the middle of the order. Hawn actually has an eight-game hitting streak going. He's batting .391 with four home runs and 14 RBI. If he had enough plate appearances, he'd be leading the league in hitting. That goes along with a tie for first in home runs.

Offense hasn't been the only piece to the puzzle for the Mets. The first two wins in the streak were both shutouts. Last night, Tyler Wilson (Virginia) made his first start and allowed two runs in five innings. The bullpen did the rest. Eric Maust (Notre Dame) allowed one run in 1.1 innings before Mark Gormley (Brown) and Dallas Gallant (Sam Houston) shut the door. Gormley struck out four and didn't allow a hit in 1.2 innings. He hasn't allowed an earned run since moving from Brewster to Hyannis. Gallant continued his dominance with one perfect inning and two strikeouts. Gallant has 10 strikeouts in his last four innings and, remarkably, is second in the league in strikeouts. He has pitched just about half the number of innings as leader Chris Sale.

The victory moved Hyannis to 9-11-1. Just a few days ago, when they got swept by Wareham in a doubleheader, it looked like they were fading. They're not back to .500 yet, but they're right in the thick of things.

Elsewhere

With a Y-D loss and their own 5-2 victory over Harwich, the Orleans Firebirds moved into second place in the East. Casey Gaynor (Rutgers) allowed a run on two hits in six innings of work to pick up the win. Alex Hassan (Duke) got the save. Hassan also contributed at the plater, where he went 2-for-2 with a double, two runs and an RBI. Jaren Matthews (Rutgers) went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Michael Olt (Connecticut) and Jeremy Gould (Duke) also drove in runs.

Chatham finally got itself a little breathing room atop the division, winning 6-4 over Brewster on a night when Y-D lost. That's the first time since June 28 that the teams have had different results. The Anglers got their victory thanks to two runs in the eighth. Both came home on a triple by Matt Perry (Holy Cross), who was pinch-hitting. I guess that was the right button to push. Jeff Schaus (Clemson) and Joey Terdoslavich (Long Beach State) added two hits for Chatham. Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) had two doubles for Brewster.

Bourne topped Y-D 7-5 for its second victory in a row and its seventh win in its last eight games. The Braves had 12 hits, with a Nick Schwaner (New Orleans) three-run homer serving as the biggest blast. Raynor Campbell (Baylor) had three hits for the Braves, with Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Chris Wallace (Houston) adding two apiece. Bryan Morgado (Tennessee) has his worst outing of the summer -- 4 ER in 5 IP -- but he did enough to get the win. As usual, Justin Poovey (Florida) and Stephen Harrold (UNC Wilmington) were lights-out in relief. Harrold picked up his sixth save, which ties him with Y-D's Tyler Burgoon (Michigan) for tops in the league.

What to Watch For Tonight

Bourne will try to stay hot against Cotuit, who will be trying to stop its skid. Turner Phelps (James Madison) is scheduled to go for the Braves against Chad Bell (Walters State), who allowed just a run in six innings his last time out.