Harwich’s five-run third seemed like its vehicle to an eventual four-run win. But Chatham manager John Schiffner thought the result was even more clearcut. 

“We just didn’t play well tonight,” Schiffner said. “I don’t know why but we didn’t.”

The Mariners (12-6) beat the Anglers (8-9-1) 7-3 at Veterans Field on Monday night, and used a five-run third, sterling pitching from starter Jared Poche and strong defense to do so. Poche threw seven shutout innings and gave up three hits while striking out seven, rendering the league’s now second highest scoring offense fruitless. Andrew Chin (Boston College) started for the Anglers and received the loss after giving up five runs on five hits in four innings of work. 

The Anglers will be back in action after an off day when they travel to Cotuit to face the Kettleers. 

Box Score:

Game Tracker

Chatham is now 0-3 against Harwich on the season, and the Mariners padded their first-place record with the win. 

“We made some mistakes at the plate but he also had his good stuff,” third baseman Blake Butera (Boston College) said of Poche. “He settled in and had a good night and we had a hard time getting anything going.”

While Schiffner wasn’t happy with his team’s play in all facets, he also credited Poche for a dominant performance. The left-hander from LSU — who faced and set down classmate and teammate Jake Fraley (LSU) twice — only had his spotless night threatened in the first. He allowed the first three hitters in the Anglers’ lineup to reach, but a pickoff, strikeout and fly out helped him escape unscathed. 

It was easy sailing from there, as Poche faced a minimum nine hitters in the second, third and fourth, and retired 10 in a row from the second to fifth. Chatham did hit the ball hard on a few occasions, but diving plays by Danny Zardon at third and Brendon Sanger in right gave it nothing to show. 

“Guys didn’t really get comfortable in the box,” second baseman Garrett Hampson (Long Beach State) said. “They made some really nice plays in the field and that’s tough. What you want to do is get a good piece of it and they tracked some of our hits down.”

That made Poche’s job just a little bit easier, and a ragtag rally in the third gave him something to protect. Chin seemed to have command of his fastball-slider combo in the first two frames, but allowed the Mariners to open up the third with two singles — both of which turned into runs — and also hit a batter while walking two. He was able to work out of the inning, but not before Harwich made an irreparable dent on the game. 

The 5-0 score stood still until Ian Happ hit a two-run home run in the top of the ninth, and Landon Cray (Seattle) cleared the bases with a three-run double in the bottom half. That put the finishing touches on the final line, and both hits — in the context of the season — were more for stats than standing. 

After edging Hyannis with a walk-off home run on Sunday night, Schiffner told his team to come ready to compete in the follow-up act. He didn’t think they did so, and Poche proved another piece of a puzzle that the Anglers have yet to solve. 

“Harwich is a good team, we know that,” Schiffner said. “We just didn’t come to play.”