Mariners Ride League-Leading Pitching Prowess

HARWICH – The message has been preached by Harwich Mariners manager Steve Englert since the first night of the Cape League season. His opening day starter, Jake McCoy, had just struck out 10 and issued zero walks. 

Eliminate the free passes and you’re going to be OK, Englert said after the game.

That idea of finding success by limiting walks, though a bit of a baseball truism, turned out to be a premonition for Harwich. The Mariners, bolstered by the lowest bases-on-balls rate (3.2 per nine innings) among the Cape’s 10 teams, have had the best-performing pitching staff in the league. 

The unit’s dominance in preventing runs, further fortified by some elite defensive play, has vaulted Harwich to second place in the East Division within the last week, a six-game stretch in which they allowed a total of 14 runs. 

After 19 games, Harwich’s 2.47 earned run average is the lowest on the Cape. They’re the only group with a teamwide ERA below 2.50, below 3.00 and below 3.30 (the next closest team is the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox at 3.35). The Mariners also lead the league in hits allowed per nine innings (7.2). That’s all with having so far thrown the most innings of any team, too.

The path to the success on the mound hasn’t been the strikeout, of which Harwich’s rate actually ranks third-lowest. The key, according to Englert, has been command.

“Commanding all our pitches and getting ahead, and just the compete level has been tremendous,” he said. “Everybody’s contributing.”

Both starters and relievers for Harwich have mastered run prevention in the first half of the summer. Some have excelled across both roles, like Gianni Gambardella (Maine), who made his first start of the season July 4 against the Brewster Whitecaps. Prior to that, he had allowed one run in six relief innings across two games. 

Thomas Shurtleff (Pennsylvania) said everyone on the pitching staff was “just doing their job.”

“We’ve got no selfish people on this team,” he said. “Everyone's doing their job, doing their part, and they're passing it to the next guy.”

The standouts for starting pitchers have been McCoy and Freddy Rodriguez (Hawaii), who had a 1.84 ERA after three starts.

“Just going out there and competing every day, knowing that I’ve got the team behind my back and just make my pitches, do my job, keep the game close and get out of there,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve got full confidence every single time I go out there that no one can touch me.”

 Also stellar for Harwich is the relief pitching, which had a collective 2.07 ERA after 19 games. Alabama left-hander Matthew Heiberger had allowed one run in 11.1 innings. Florida’s Christian Rodriguez had allowed no runs in 10.1 innings; Cooper Harrington (Liberty) hadn’t allowed any runs in 5.2 innings. 

The pitchers feed off energy and “good culture,” Freddy Rodriguez said.

“When there’s no bad apples within a group and everyone’s a good guy and got each other’s back, the more success you’re going to have overall,” he said.

The bullpen numbers, top to bottom, speak for themselves. Shurtleff had a 1.69 ERA in 10.2 innings. Ryan Bilka (Richmond) had a 2.19 ERA in 12.1 innings. Tazwell Butler (Kansas State) had struck out an outrageous 16 batters with only one walk in eight innings.

“We have a pass-it-to-the-next-guy mentality, so if one guy doesn’t have it that day, the guy right behind him will,” Bilka said.

Noticeably great fielding has also contributed significantly to Harwich’s ability to limit opponent scoring. The team leads the league in double plays turned. A middle infield tandem of shortstop Tanner Marsh (Liberty) and second baseman Shintaro Inoue (Kansas State) smoothly and routinely turns two.

“It just again reinforces my ability to go in the zone and pitch to my game plan and execute my strengths,” Shurtleff said. 

Last Saturday against the Chatham Anglers, for example, center fielder Bristol Carter (Auburn) lost his cap sprawling forward as he came in to grab a ball. The next inning, third baseman Maddox Molony (Oregon) charged and handled consecutive tough chopping grounders. 

“It makes it easy to throw strikes because they’re going to save you as many hits as they can with the diving plays and the double plays and all that stuff,” Bilka said. “And when you get a baserunner on, you know if you put it on the ground, it’s going to be a double play, so it becomes easier and easier to attack the zone when you’ve got a great defense behind you like we do.”

Even the plays the Mariners don’t make demonstrate a level of defensive effort. Last Thursday against the Whitecaps, third baseman Dee Kennedy (Kansas State) leapt into the Harwich dugout in a bid for a foul pop-up. 

That kind of fielding gives pitchers a measure of confidence that the out will be made when the ball is in play.

“They’re putting their bodies on the line making diving plays, and I’m just out there to do my job, continue to put up zeroes every single inning and put them in the best position to be successful and win the ballgame,” Rodriguez said.