Wareham, Mass. — The Chatham Anglers (13-19-1) look to make it three straight victories today as they take on the Wareham Gatemen (16-14-3) at 6:30 p.m. at Spillane Field.

Chatham enters the contest fresh off of its first set of back-to-back wins since late June. In their previous two contests, the Anglers have edged out the Brewster Whitecaps and the Cotuit Kettleers by one run apiece. Twelve games remain in the regular season and the Anglers find themselves trailing Brewster by a half a game for the final East Division playoff spot.

Winning its last three games, Wareham is one of the CCBL’s hottest teams. However, their last time out against Chatham, the Gatemen fell thanks to a walk-off homer by Tanner Gardner. Following that contest, Wareham went over a week without recording a win as they compiled an underwhelming 0-3-2 record before finally besting Bourne on July 15.

The Anglers currently hold a 2-1 series advantage over the Gatemen this season and look to close the book with a win in their last trip to Wareham.

At the Plate: Sean Bouchard comes into Thursday’s game as the spearhead of the Anglers offense in the last seven days. Since appearing as a pinch-hitter in last Friday’s loss to Orleans, the UCLA infielder has amassed a .389 batting average thanks to seven hits in 18 at-bats. Three of those knocks went for extra bases while Bouchard has scored four times and driven in one run in the last week. 

The San Diego native credits a change in his approach as the reason for his recent offensive surge.

“Just being more aggressive, not trying to take pitches that are too close,” said Bouchard. “Just get a pitch that I think I can drive somewhere. Not necessarily looking for one spot, but anything in the strike zone, just put a good swing on it and thankfully the balls have been falling lately.”

Colton Shaver has been the driving force behind the Wareham offense in his last five games, hitting .375 with two runs, two RBIs, a home run, and a double.

On the Rubber: Tom Sutera (0-0) of Siena takes the hill in his first start for Chatham tonight, after being added to John Schiffner’s roster late due to a medley of injuries plaguing Chatham pitching.

As a freshman for the Saints this spring, Sutera made two starts in nine appearances. In his 19 innings pitched, the six-foot-six right-hander went 0-1 with a 7.58 ERA after giving up 37 hits to the 95 batters he faced. Sutera also issued seven walks on the season.

The Gatemen will trot out Hogan Harris (1-0) to the mound tonight in the lefty’s third start of the season. Appearing in four total games, Harris has crafted a 1.68 ERA while striking out 14 batters in 10 and two-thirds innings.

The Louisiana-Lafayette product’s last start came back on July 2 against the Cotuit Kettleers. Harris has yet to factor into a decision in any of his starts this summer as his lone win came in two and a third innings of relief against Bourne on July 15.

Down the Road: The Anglers will head to Brewster tomorrow for a 5 p.m. contest with the Whitecaps before taking Saturday off to watch teammates Isaac Mattson and Gunnar Troutwine compete in the CCBL All-Star Game.  

Broadcast Information

Make sure to tune in at 6:10 p.m. today for the Anglers Extra Pregame Show on the Cape Cod Baseball Network. Jake Eisenberg will introduce you to his Catch of the Day while Evan Stockton sits down with manager John Schiffner.

The full broadcast of today’s game is available online and over the phone at 1-800-846-4700, code 3481. Visit Broadcast Central for more details.