UNC Baseball: Cape Cod Update

Welcome to your weekly Cape Cod League update! This week, I decided that I wanted to see a little bit of what was going on instead of staring at a computer screen with numbers on it. So, on Saturday I took the 90-minute drive to Cape Cod and enjoyed a beautiful Saturday at the diamond.

The scene of this game: Harwich, Massachusetts.

Al Hood

Harwich currently holds two Tar Heels, Tyler Baum and Cole Aker. Neither hit the bump this past Saturday as Baum wasn’t starting and the 8-3 win by the visiting Brewster Whitecaps didn’t really present a reason for Aker to come in. Brewster also has two Tar Heels, on the batting side: Kyle Datres and Zach Gahagan. Datres led off playing third, Gahagan hit 9th, playing short.

In true Cape Cod League fashion, the game was played at a field that would likely pass for your high school diamond. Granted, a very nice one that had a scoreboard, stands on both sides, light towers, and so forth. Frankly it was worlds better than Boston College’s old baseball “stadium” that I went to earlier in the year. There were no tickets, just a donation box at the opening, a nice concession stand, and green grass around everywhere.

Al Hood

One benefit to this type of atmosphere is that you can see the players pretty easily. This shot was right behind the Brewster bench, meaning we could see both Datres and Gahagan as they came up.

Al Hood

Al Hood

Datres had the better night of the two. Kyle got the game started with a fly ball that just seemed to catch the wind going out to left field. It fooled the outfielders and fell for a leadoff double. He’d later score, get another single and a walk, and finished 2-5. Gahagan went 0-3 with 2 strikeouts, and was pulled for a pinch hitter in the 7th inning. His defense was great, the bat just couldn’t follow. I also owe Gahagan an apology as he wasn’t on the official UNC release, meaning that he was asked to join afterwards. As far as I can tell he’s the only one that’s been left off, but if you’ve caught someone please buzz me on Twitter

The experience was also wonderful in that some of the players’ families had made the trip up to the Cape in order to watch their sons play. I spoke with one who explained that it wasn’t organized by the team but the mothers themselves. It was a reminder that for most of these kids, while this opportunity is one of a lifetime, they also got no time at home with families like most college kids on summer break.

It was a great experience, and hopefully not the last time I head down to Cape Cod.

Now, on to the rest of the players. As always, stats via the Cape Cod League:

Austin Bergner, Chatham

• Last week: Pitched 7/3 & 7/10-11 ²⁄₃ IP, 2 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 7 K, 1W, 1 ND
• 2017: 1-1, 1.72 ERA, 4 G, 15 ²⁄₃ IP, 10 K, 6 BB, 15 H

Rodney Hutchinson Jr, Chatham

• Last week: Pitched 7/5 & 7/10, 5 ¹⁄₃ IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 W, 1 Save, 1BB, 4 K
• 2017: 1-0, 1 SV, 0.96 ERA, 4G, 9 ¹⁄₃ IP, 7 K, 3 BB, 9 H

Ashton McGee, Chatham

• Last week: 3 G, 0-5, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 1 HBP
• 2017: 12 G, 38 AB, .105 Avg, 1 3B, 4 BB, 16 K

Cody Roberts, Chatham

• Last week: 4 G, 1-15, 1 RBI, 6 K
• 2017: 14 G, .114 Avg, 4 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 11 BB, 14 K

Tyler Baum, Harwich

• Last week: Pitched 7/9, 6 IP, L, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 5 K
• 2017: 3-1, 2.52 ERA, 4 G, 25 IP, 23 K, 4 BB, 19 H

Cole Aker, Harwich

• Last week: Pitched 7/4 & 7/10, 0-1, 2 ¹⁄₃ IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4K,
• 2017: 7 G, 0-3, 1 Sv, 4.09 ERA, 11 IP, 13 K, 8 BB, 7 H

Bret Daniels, Orleans

• Last week: Pitched 7/4 & 7/9, 3 IP, 4 ER, 4 H, 2K
• 2017: 7 G, 5.90 ERA, 1 Sv, 10 ²⁄₃ IP, 11 K, 1 BB, 10 H

Josh Hiatt, Orleans

• Last week: Pitched 7/8, 7/10, 7/11, 2 ²⁄₃ IP, 3 ER, 3 H, 2 K
• 2017: 10 G, 0-1, 2.07 ERA, 5 SV, 13 IP, 13 K, 6 BB, 5 H

Brandon Riley, Orleans

• Last week: 7 G, 22 AB, 7 H, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 Caught Stealing
• 2017: 22 G, 73 AB, .301 Avg, 22 H, 1 2B, 2 3B, 10 RBI, 15 BB, 16 K, 2 CS

Tayler Sugg, Orleans

• Last week: Pitched 7/5, 1 IP, 1 SO
• 2017: 1-0, 4.21 ERA, 6 G, 10 ²⁄₃ IP, 8 K, 3 BB, 12 H

Robbie Peto, Falmouth

• Last week: Pitched 7/4, 4 IP, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K
• 2017: 4 G, 0-1, 5.14 ERA, 14 IP, 12 K, 11 BB, 11 H

Kyle Datres, Brewster

• Last week: 5 G, 20 AB, 5 H, 5 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP, 1 SB
• 2017: 17 G, 62 AB, .258 Avg, 14 R, 16 H, 3 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 12 BB, 11 K, 2 SB

Zach Gahagan, Brewster***

• 2017: 9 G, 27 AB, .111 Avg, 3 H, 2 R, 4 BB, 13 K, 1 SB.

**As this was the first week I have Gahagan on the update, I’ll skip what he did last week.

The All-Star Game for the Cape Cod League isn’t until next Saturday, so everyone still has time to solidify their spot on the roster. Riley and Datres have a real shot at making it, as do Hiatt, Baum, Bergner, and Hutchinson.

Check-in next week to see how everyone is doing!