Hyannis hits stride, leads Western Division with Kettleers
Win streak helps Hyannis tie for the top spot

 June 26, 2008


 

Written by Kathleen Szmit
 
 Although it’s still early in the Cape Cod Baseball League’s summer, 2008 is already proving to be Hyannis’ year.

After several seasons of struggle, Hyannis has returned to the top of the Western Division heap to tie for the No. 1 spot along with Barnstable cohorts the Cotuit Kettleers.

At press time Hyannis’ overall record was 6-2, with the team holding a solid one-point lead over Falmouth in the points standings. The team was joined at the top by Cotuit following their win against Bourne on Wednesday.

This week Hyannis won games against the Bourne Braves and the Wareham Gatemen. The team’s Harwich game on Monday and the Cotuit game on Tuesday were called after thunderstorms took over the playing fields.

Baseball under the lights is good; baseball under lightning is not.

The lights at McKeon Field made for a very special event for the Hyannis Athletic Association this week. Prior to the team’s Saturday night game, the lights and those who made them happen were celebrated in a special pre-game ceremony.

Officiated by John Garner, the League’s director of public relations and broadcasting, various dignitaries were honored for their part in bringing light to McKeon Park. Honorees included CCBL Hall-of-Famer Dick Sullivan, the Yawkey Foundation’s Jim Healey, John Brewer of Brewer Electric, Jeff Maxwell from the Hub Foundation in Harvard, and local point person Sam Traywick, as well as Pope John Paul II High School Principal Chris Keavy, whose students share the field with Hyannis.

Then, with the lights shining against the evening sky, it was time to play ball!

Third baseman Chris Dominguez got things started for Hyannis, clocking a beautiful two-run, opposite-field homer in the bottom of the first inning, giving Hyannis an early 2-0 lead against the Gatemen.

Wareham pitcher Matt Way settled down in the second, with the Gatemen posing a brief threat at bat with two on and one out, but Hyannis pitching dynamo Andrew Carraway worked his way out of the jam with a couple of strikeouts that left the Gatemen stranded.

Hyannis scored two more runs in the third on a long single from Ben Paulson that brought in Dale Cornstubble and Luke Murton, lifting Hyannis to 4-0.

Though Hyannis didn’t bring in any more runs and allowed one from the Gatemen in the sixth, the team’s bats were solid. Dominguez hit a double in the fifth, and Paulson also hit a double down the first base line in the eighth.

Defensively Hyannis’ boys had some stellar moments including a terrific tension-breaking double play in the seventh with the bases loaded that ended the inning with Wareham’s players stranded.

On the mound for Hyannis, Carraway was in top form, giving up no runs on three hits, striking out seven, and only walking one in his five innings of play.

New pitcher Matt Andress worked himself out of a couple of jams in the sixth and seventh before Austin Adams came in for the eighth, striking out the side.

Earning his fourth save for Hyannis, a league best, Russell Brewer closed the game with two strikeouts and a fly out in a 1-2-3 ninth, capping off a sweet 4-1 win for Hyannis.

While field manager Rick Robinson noted that it was still early in the Cape League season, he did comment that it was nice to hold the lead.

“It feels pretty good,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep working.”

At press time Hyannis was scheduled to play Brewster at home, with a game today in Orleans at 7 p.m. 
 


 


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