Athlete Of The Week: Jake McCoy

HARWICH – To begin the Harwich Mariners’ 2025 season last Saturday, opening day starter Jake McCoy struck out the first five batters he faced. He struck out the side in the top of the first then got the next two in the second — three swinging, two looking — before a Bourne Brave reached on an error.

When his day was done after four innings, McCoy had struck out 10 in Harwich’s 7-5 win. Put another way, of the 12 total outs he recorded, 10 came by way of strikeout.

A South Carolina lefthander, McCoy said he didn’t really realize what he had done until he came back into the dugout and heard some guys talking.

“I just kind of got in a groove and filled up the zone,” he said.

With hitters not having played for a bit and still becoming acclimated to wooden bats, their timing is off early in the season, so McCoy said his best chance was to throw strikes — he told himself to go out and throw as many as possible. With a fastball-slider mix and the occasional changeup, McCoy did just that. He walked none to go with the 10 strikeouts, allowing one unearned run on three hits and one hit batter.

“He was great,” Harwich manager Steve Englert said. “He was pounding the zone. I think he didn’t have a walk, and you do that, you’re going to have a pretty good chance of success.”

McCoy’s time on the Cape will probably be relatively brief. He threw a lot during the school year, so the plan is to make three starts. But he’d stay the whole summer if he could, he said — an understandable position after the auspicious opening day start. 

“It’s been so awesome,” McCoy said. “I love it up here. I’m having a ton of fun.”