17 June 2008

Quick start to the season for the Mariners

By Matt Rice


HARWICH -

The Harwich Mariners continued their solid start to the season as they defeated the Chatham A’s 4-1 on Monday, behind great pitching from their starter, Ryan Quigley.

The Mariners are now 2-0 on the year, tops in the East Division, while Chatham drops to 0-2.

A native of Tauton, Quigley struck out 11 batters and gave up only four hits while keeping the A’s scoreless through his six innings of work, good enough for his first win of the season. 

“The key for me tonight was getting ahead of guys in the count and really being aggressive after that,” said Harwich’s Quigley. “We’ve come out of the gate flying. Guys are really working hard and listening to what coach has to say and it’s paid off.”

Quigley, a soon-to-be junior at Northeastern, said he used to come down here as a kid to watch Cape League games.

“I’m exited to come down here and show what I can do. This is such a great experience.”

He added that he thought the pitchers in the league have the advantage because “most hitters in the league aren’t used to facing a team’s ace every night.”

“It’s much easier to pitch inside to guys because of the wooden bats. The key is getting ahead of the hitters and staying aggressive,” he added. “It’s still early in the summer, but the team chemistry seems really good. A lot of the guys have been here for awhile.”

Harwich got single runs in the second and third innings and added two more in the top of the sixth.

Mariners catcher Frank Pesanello led the Harwich attack with two hits and an RBI, while leadoff hitter and center fielder DJ Belfonte collected two RBI.

With a lead in hand, Quigley turned the ball over to the Mariners bullpen in the seventh. They did their job, allowing only one run on one hit while striking out six in three innings of work.

Willie Kempf finished the game for Harwich, striking out the side in the ninth to pick up his first save of the season.

“It’s still early, but we have a great group of talented baseball players,” said Mariners General Manager John Reid, who’s entering his third year at the helm of the Harwich Mariners. 

Reid added that he thought the new lighting system at Harwich’s Whitehouse Field will be up and running by the end of the week.

The Mariners were set to play their home opener last night against defending league champs, Y-D.

They’ll travel to Orleans tonight, then they’ll host Wareham on Thursday. On Friday they’ll host Falmouth.

The Mariners have averaged only 20 wins over the past 10-years. Their best finish in that span was a 21-20 record in the 2003 season.