In the aftermath of their third rainout of the season, the Chatham Anglers (6-3) are on the road to take on the Brewster Whitecaps (4-6) on Wednesday evening at 5 p.m. Facing a team with the fewest points in the Eastern Division, the Anglers are eager to get back in the win column.
"We're really happy just to be getting on the field," said assistant coach
Derek Sullivan, who is now in his second year with the team. "There's nothing else you can do with the recent weather. If it gets a little wet, it's no big deal. Let's play baseball."
Right-hander
Scott Frazier (1-0, 2.70 ERA) (Pepperdine) will make the start for Chatham. Frazier was given a no-decision in his last start against Bourne on June 21, allowing two runs and striking out five batters in five innings of work. The tall righty with a heavy four-seam fastball will face a Brewster lineup hitting .251 as a team.
The Whitecaps, who are coming off two wins in a row are slated to send right-hander
James Leckenby (0-0, 0.00 ERA) (Washington St.) to the rubber. With his only other appearance this season coming out of the bullpen, Leckenby will make his first start of the season. Leckenby will take on an Angler lineup that hit two doubles and drew four walks against his team in their last matchup, a 4-0 victory for Chatham.
Chatham heads into its matchup against Brewster with a new addition to the roster. Recently arrived from Omaha, infielder
Pat Valaika (UCLA) was placed on the active roster as of Tuesday morning. In his sophomore season, Valaika hit .266 with 1 home run and 39 RBI. The versatile infielder helped lead UCLA to the College World Series where his team defeated Stony Brook 9-1 in the first round and was eliminated following a 4-1 loss to the Florida State Seminoles.
Heading into Wednesday's game, Chatham has a .226 team batting average. With just three walks on Sunday night against Cotuit, the Anglers will make a point to get back to working the counts and having lengthy at-bats against the Whitecaps. Chatham still leads the Cape League with 40 walks on the season.
"We have to get guys on base to score runs," said Sullivan. "We don't care how our guys get on base. If guys are seeing lots of pitches that's great, but if we get 15 hits, we'll take that too."
In addition to battling at the plate, Chatham will also focus on avoiding significant lapses in the field. In their last game against Cotuit, the Anglers committed four errors, the most costly of which blew open a 7-5 game in the top of the ninth inning.
"Mental errors are the plays that we are the most concerned about," said Sullivan. "Physical errors happen from time to time, but as coaches we get the most irritated when the mental errors happen. We had too many mental errors in the last game."
For live coverage of Wednesday's game, tune into the Anglers Extra Pregame show with broadcasters Brandon Liebhaber and Chris Fitzgerald at 4:40 p.m. at
TRZ Teamline.