Daily Fog: Flying On

Right Field Fog – July 20, 2012

Before Thursday night’s game in Hyannis, about a dozen geese gathered in center field. Two bat boys from Falmouth tried chasing them away but came up empty. Hyannis center fielder Dominic Jose gave it a go next, but the geese weren’t interested in leaving.

Eventually, the Hyannis bullpen made it happen in between the top and the bottom of the first inning. But for that top of the first, Jose played center field with a gaggle all around him.

The funny thing was that nobody seemed too worried about it.

I guess with Sean Manaea (Indiana State) on the mound, you don’t care much about center field.

Manaea, the Cape League’s strikeout leader, continued his tremendous summer with his third straight dominant start. He struck out the side in that first inning on his way to 15 strikeouts in seven shutout innings. He allowed two hits, didn’t walk anybody and picked up the victory as Hyannis topped Falmouth 4-1.

Manaea has been rolling all season, and especially lately. He struck out 13 in his last start after getting nine the start before that.

I wondered what he could do for an encore, hoping that he’d be as good on the night I got to see him. He was better than I could have imagined.

Manaea had a perfect game until an error in the fourth and a no-hitter until Kyle Ruchim (Northwestern) lined a single back through the box in the fifth. He struck out every batter in the Falmouth lineup at least once. Twelve of his 15 strikeouts were of the swinging variety. The only hit other than Ruchim’s liner was an infield single to shortstop that Mike O’Neill (Michigan) beat out. He threw 92 pitches, and 70 were strikes.

Manaea now has 66 strikeouts — and six walks — in 37.2 innings. He has struck out more than the last three end-of-season strikeout leaders, with only Brandon Workman’s 67 in 2008 keeping him from making it the last six. If he continues to pitch well, Manaea may head into 2005 territory when Daniel Bard struck out 82 and Tim Norton K’d 77.

Manaea, who wasn’t getting a lot of run support early in the season, has had plenty of help lately, and that was the case again. Falmouth starter Trey Masek (Texas Tech) had his own awesome night, striking out 11 in six innings on his way to the hardest of hard-luck losses. Hyannis touched him up for two unearned runs in the second. An error opened the door and an RBI groundout by Jose plus a Zach Alvord (Auburn) RBI single brought the runs home. Falmouth added a run in the seventh on a Brett Michael Doran (Stanford) RBI double and another in the eighth on a Blake Austin (Auburn) solo home run.

Walter Wijas (Kentucky) pitched a scoreless eighth in relief of Manaea, and Peter Miller (Florida State) worked out of some trouble in the ninth to seal the victory.

There were 30 combined strikeouts between the teams.

Elsewhere

Manaea and Masek weren’t the only ones dominating last night. Orleans’ Matt Boyd (Oregon State), who had been pitching well out of the bullpen, made the jump to the rotation and shined. He struck out 12 and allowed just one hit in six scoreless innings as the Firebirds beat Chatham 7-2. The Anglers didn’t get their first hit off Boyd until the fourth and it was the only one they got. Boyd faced just two over the minimum. The offense backed him, as well. Conrad Gregor (Vanderbilt), Jake Hernandez (USC) and Angelo La Bruna (Duke) all hit home runs for Orleans, while Reed Gragnani (Virginia) and J.T. Riddle (Kentucky) added two hits each.

Harwich got a pitching gem on the back end of its game and it set the stage for a 13-inning, 8-6 victory over Bourne. Grant Gordon (Missouri State) pitched the final four innings for the Mariners and didn’t allow a runner on base in that span. He also struck out eight of the 12 batters he faced. That paved the way for Harwich to take a lead in the 13th. Eric Jagielo (Notre Dame) had an RBI single to plate the go-ahead run, while Austin Wilson (Stanford) knocked in another run with a base hit. Before the late heroics, the Mariners hit three home runs, one each from JaCoby Jones (LSU), Brian Ragira (Stanford) and Phillip Ervin (Samford), who hit his ninth. Ervin hadn’t homered since June 30. For Bourne, Mason Robbins (Southern Miss) hit his fifth homer and Colin Moran (North Carolina) had three hits.

Y-D won a slugfest over Brewster 12-11 in a game that was called after eight innings for darkness. The Red Sox trailed 11-10 going into the bottom of the eighth but got an RBI single by Sean McHugh (Purdue) to tie the game and a base hit by Justin Shafer (Florida) to take the lead. The Red Sox finished with 17 hits. Sean Dwyer (Florida Gulf Coast) and Robert Pehl (Washington) each homered and drove in two runs. Sam Travis (Indiana) and Zak Blair (Mercyhurst) had three hits apiece. Nine different players knocked in a run for the Red Sox. On the other side, Dan Olinger (Minnesota) had three hits for the Whitecaps.

What to Watch

Harwich and Orleans get together again in Orleans tonight at 7 p.m. Former first-round pick Dylan Covey (San Diego) goes for the Firebirds against David Whitehead (Elon). There should also be a good match-up in Brewster, where Y-D sends ace Aaron Blair (Marshall) to the mound against Sam Moll (Memphis).

Also today, all-star rosters will be announced.