Harwich Sweeps Y-D To Earn First Cape League Championship Berth Since 2019

HARWICH – The Harwich Mariners’ impossible dream is nearly complete.

After starting July with a 2-17 record that included nine- and seven-game losing streaks, third-seeded Harwich punched its ticket to the Cape Cod Baseball League championship with a 5-1 victory over top-seeded Yarmouth-Dennis on Thursday night at Whitehouse Field.

Thursday’s win completed a 2-0 series sweep of the Red Sox in the best-of-three East Division final. The Mariners took a 1-0 series lead with a 10-2 victory in Game 1 in South Yarmouth on Wednesday evening.

“It’s always great when you’re still playing, but this group is a little more special because of what we went through in the month of July,” Harwich manager Steve Englert said. “I can’t say enough good things about them. They are just grinders – they came out and tried to get better every single day.

“We had a ‘just get in’ mentality and it paid off for us.”

Harwich will have a day off Friday before facing either Bourne or Cotuit in the best-of-three championship series beginning with Game 1 on Saturday. Second-seeded Cotuit defended its homefield with a 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday before fourth-seeded Bourne, the two-time defending league champion, evened the series with a 7-4 win Thursday night.

The Kettleers and Braves will close out their series with Game 3 on Friday in Cotuit. Englert said the Mariners will be ready regardless of who their opponent is.

“This time of year, it really doesn’t matter,” Englert answered when asked if he had a preference of which team he’d rather face. “They are both dangerous offenses and can pitch it, so it doesn’t matter to us.”

Thursday’s win was a total team effort that showcased the Mariners’ grit on the pitcher’s mound and in the batter’s box. Starting pitcher Donovan Burke tossed a gem to earn the win after allowing Y-D’s only run on five hits, four walks and one strikeout.

It marked the end of Burke’s collegiate career, as the lefty from James Madison has decided not to pursue his sixth year of eligibility after pitching for the Dukes in the spring. He retired the first six Red Sox batters he faced and threw eight scoreless innings before allowing an RBI single to Ryan Sprock (Elon) that scored Anthony Martinez (UC Irvine) for Y-D’s lone run.

Kevin Zarcnoch, a right-handed reliever from Boston who pitches at UMass Lowell, came in to close out the game after retiring the first three batters he faced.

“Selfishly I wish I could’ve finished it – that would’ve been the cherry on top – but it feels great,” Burke said. “I’m not going back to school, so it feels pretty good to end my college career like that.”

Englert said Burke “is a horse.”

“He’s an older car – he’s battle tested and nothing phases the kid,” Englert said. “He’s an older guy and he didn’t get a chance to get drafted, so this is his World Series and I’m really happy for him.”

After Cade Kurland (Florida) gave Harwich an early 1-0 lead with an RBI double that scored Aiden Robbins (Seton Hall) in the first inning, Mariners catcher Macon Winslow (Duke) hit a bases-clearing double with the bases loaded to extend the team’s lead to 4-0 in the fourth.

“He was throwing a lot of curveballs to righties, so I was sitting all over it and saw it out of the hand and tried not doing too much and found a hole,” Winslow said.

Winslow was inserted into the lineup after sitting the past two games. He played a lot throughout Duke’s season during the spring but didn’t play a game during the team’s Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title run. He was prepared to answer the call when his number was called by Englert.

“I knew in this situation, if I was going to get an opportunity, I was going to make the most of it and I think I did a pretty good job of doing that,” Winslow said.

Matt Scannell (Wake Forest) made it 5-0 in the seventh after scoring on an overthrow at first base following a sacrifice bunt by Jake Ogden (Miami).

“We had contributions up and down the lineup,” Englert said. “Getting bunts down, getting runs over, and we had big hits. Everybody is contributing.”

Now Harwich is just two wins away from capturing the team’s sixth title. The Mariners have two championships during Englert’s 21 seasons at the helm, winning in 2008 and ’11.

After claiming the East Division title Thursday, the Mariners players are hoping to cap off their improbable turnaround with a league championship.

“I think it’d mean everything to these people in Harwich,” Winslow said. “Like my host dad (Dave Truesdale), it’s almost like he lives and breathes the Harwich Mariners. He’s off right now on a trip but he’s been texting me every night no matter what. He just wants us to win – that would be something that I think they’d treasure for years.”