6 July 2007

Chatham celebrates the Fourth with win over Orleans

By Matt Rice
GateHouse News Service
Fri Jul 06, 2007, 05:58 AM EDT 

Brewster - The Cardinals and A’s renewed their rivalry on Wednesday but the early raindrops and unforced errors proved to be the difference as Chatham came away with an 8-4 weather-shortened win over their northern neighbors.

    Orleans starter Wynn Pelzer couldn’t get out of the third inning, allowing three earned runs before leaving the game after being struck in the knee with a line-drive.

    Chatham starter Nathan Morneau settled down after allowing two runs in the first inning. He would eventually leave in the fifth inning after giving up four runs on three hits and four walks.

    The Cardinals defense allowed three errors, which led to five unearned runs in the loss, their third in the last four games. 
The A’s were led by Allan Dykstra, who had two hits and knocked in two runs, including one in the top of the eighth.

    Dennis Raben and Nate Freiman each had a hit and two RBI in the loss.

    With the win, the A’s tied the Cardinals for second place in the East division with 20 points.

    The Cardinals are currently last in the league with a team batting average of .207 but lead the league in pitching with a team ERA of .206.
Orleans will look to end their recent troubles as they travel to Hyannis tonight before hosting Bourne tomorrow night in Orleans.

    The A’s are third is batting with a .268 average but their team ERA of 4.04 is currently seventh.

    Chatham will try to keep pace as they host East leader Y-D tonight and cellar-dwelling Harwich on Saturday. 

    Brewster defeated Y-D 5-3 in seven innings on Wednesday to remain just a point back from second with a 9-7-1 record.

    The Whitecaps find themselves fourth in the league in hitting (.262), and fifth in pitching (3.39).

    They’ll host Cotuit tonight before traveling to Hyannis on Saturday.

    Harwich finally ended their nine game losing streak with a 2-0 win over Brewster on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the winning feeling didn’t last long as the Mariners dropped their next game to Falmouth 4-3.

    The Mariners are currently last in the league with a 4-13 record.

    “It’s not like we’ve been playing that bad, we just can’t seem to put things together to get things going,” said Mariners outfielder Steve Strausbaugh, one of the few bright spots for Harwich this season. “ Hopefully, as the season progresses, we can gel more as a team and reel off four or five wins in a row.”

    The Mariners are in the middle of the pack as far as ERA (3.72) and average (.231) but still find themselves at the bottom of the league looking up.

    They’ll travel to Wareham tonight and Chatham tomorrow.