Anglers News« Back to 2024 News |
Chatham falls 9-4 to Bourne, winning percentage dips to .500
The resignation of former manager Jeremy “Sheets” Sheetinger Wednesday left the Anglers without their main source of energy. Sheetinger’s 31-game tenure ended with Chatham primed for postseason play, sitting at second place in the East Division. A player-oriented culture paired with an aggressive playstyle extracted unparalleled organizational buy-in. It was all but clear Sheetinger would take the A’s back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Until Sheetinger — the man whose playful yet intense demeanor spurred Chatham’s patented dog-barking dugout celebrations and New York Yankees-esque bullpen roll call — departed.
Suddenly, it was up to pitching coach, now interim manager, Eric Beattie to fill his void.
“Unexpected. Definitely unexpected,” Beattie said of his reaction to the abrupt change.
Beattie progressed from Sheetinger’s right-hand man to the leader of the operation his former manager started. Beattie’s CCBL experience speaks volumes, however. He’s a 2014 Hall of Fame inductee and the league’s Manager of the Year in 2022 while helming Hyannis.
Beattie is built for this. On the same token, Thursday night’s circumstances were difficult for Chatham. A mere day wasn’t enough time for the Anglers to move past Sheetinger’s resignation. Especially not against an explosive Braves offense.
Chatham (16-16, East) fell 9-4 on the road to Bourne (15-16-2, West) in its first game under Beattie. A back-and-forth early portion quickly became a one-sided affair once the Braves unleashed a five-run fifth inning. The Anglers’ bats couldn’t find their stride against Bourne’s bullpen arms, which led to their second consecutive defeat.
For Beattie, simply getting through the day was paramount. He’d spent his time over the last day providing reassurance to his players and staff after Sheetinger’s resignation. He said postgame that his recent tenure managing Hyannis will help him ease into the role in Chatham. Yet his philosophy stays the same: improve the person first, and the player second.
Considering a turbulent past 24 hours, that sentiment rang true.
“Making sure they were in the right headspace was my goal,” Beattie said of his players. “Sheets made a really good impact on a lot of people really quickly. But they’re adaptive, they’ll get through it and I think after communicating to the players that he’s good and he made the right decision for himself, everyone’s in a good place.”
Once the Anglers’ attention turned to the field, they were locked in a pitching battle early. Both sides were scoreless through two and a half innings.
Bourne starter Tyler Fay’s fastball command and two-strike sliders confused Chatham’s hitters, racking up seven strikeouts through three no-hit innings. While A’s starter Lucas Hartman (Florida Gulf Coast) attacked batters with a rambunctious windup and pounded the strike zone, retiring each of the first seven Braves’ hitters.
Hartman’s run ended in the bottom of the third, though.
A base knock from Bourne’s Clay Grady and Hartman hitting Isaiah Jackson with a pitch put runners on first and second. With two outs, Marek Houston drilled a liner into right field that popped in and out of Larson’s glove. Houston’s single scored Grady, handing Chatham a 1-0 deficit heading into the fourth.
It was the nudge that the Anglers needed to break their hitless spell. They tattooed Fay right afterward, beginning with back-to-back singles from Ike Irish (Auburn) and Chayton Krauss (Dallas Baptist). Aiva Arquette, the East Division’s starting shortstop in the 2024 All-Star Game, pummeled a double to center field that brought Irish and Krauss home.
Chatham’s two-run fourth inning reflected its past 24 hours. A short-term memory is essential in times of significant change. The Anglers can’t take Sheetinger out of their minds. But they can wash away a lifeless start on offense. They did just that Thursday night, offsetting Fay’s early dominance by taking a 2-1 lead.
Yet similar success followed for the Braves. Hartman allowed runners on the corners via a walk to Braden Holcomb and a single by Tristan Bissetta. Garrett Michel drove in Holcomb off a single to right field to tie the game at 2-2. Hartman then loaded the bases just with one out before Bissette scored on a Jackson sacrifice fly.
Bourne led 3-2 as Hartman was replaced by righty reliever JD McReynolds (Central Missouri) with two outs. McReynolds forced Stanfield into a 5-3 groundout to end the inning.
The Anglers refreshed themselves once again in the fifth. Jayden Davis (Vanderbilt) reached third off an infield single followed by a throwing error from Holcomb, and Lodise promptly drove Davis home on an RBI groundout. Fay’s night ended after five innings, allowing three runs. The two sides experienced four lead changes while Fay was in the game.
Soon, the contest saw its fifth — and final — lead change.
The Braves juiced the bags against McReynolds in the bottom of the fifth. It got ugly. Michel took a base on balls to score a run. One at-bat later, Chase Meggers swatted a two-RBI double into left-center field. A 6-3 scoreline in favor of Bourne caused Beattie to swap McReynolds out for right-hander Jacob Heath (West Florida). Yet, it continued to snowball.
Heath immediately hit Grady with a pitch. He fired back to K Jackson, though Stanfield laced a single into center field off Heath that brought two more scores around. Chatham trailed 8-3 after the Braves accumulated five runs in the fifth inning.
“We lost a little bit of control of the tempo of the game there,” Beattie said. “We were out on the field too long.”
By that point, the A’s didn’t have much else to give. Their early resilience struggled to remain intact as they faced a massive deficit that only grew. They had come back from down seven on July 7 in a 13-12 walk-off win over Harwich. But replicating a feat like that is unheard of.
Game one with Beattie didn’t go as planned. The Anglers’ play under Sheetinger provides them with plenty of room for error, however. They’re 5.5 games into a playoff spot and well on their way to qualify. Sheetinger’s exit may sting for now, but Beattie has the time and experience necessary to steer Chatham past its most adverse situation of the summer.
Until Sheetinger — the man whose playful yet intense demeanor spurred Chatham’s patented dog-barking dugout celebrations and New York Yankees-esque bullpen roll call — departed.
Suddenly, it was up to pitching coach, now interim manager, Eric Beattie to fill his void.
“Unexpected. Definitely unexpected,” Beattie said of his reaction to the abrupt change.
Beattie progressed from Sheetinger’s right-hand man to the leader of the operation his former manager started. Beattie’s CCBL experience speaks volumes, however. He’s a 2014 Hall of Fame inductee and the league’s Manager of the Year in 2022 while helming Hyannis.
Beattie is built for this. On the same token, Thursday night’s circumstances were difficult for Chatham. A mere day wasn’t enough time for the Anglers to move past Sheetinger’s resignation. Especially not against an explosive Braves offense.
Chatham (16-16, East) fell 9-4 on the road to Bourne (15-16-2, West) in its first game under Beattie. A back-and-forth early portion quickly became a one-sided affair once the Braves unleashed a five-run fifth inning. The Anglers’ bats couldn’t find their stride against Bourne’s bullpen arms, which led to their second consecutive defeat.
For Beattie, simply getting through the day was paramount. He’d spent his time over the last day providing reassurance to his players and staff after Sheetinger’s resignation. He said postgame that his recent tenure managing Hyannis will help him ease into the role in Chatham. Yet his philosophy stays the same: improve the person first, and the player second.
Considering a turbulent past 24 hours, that sentiment rang true.
“Making sure they were in the right headspace was my goal,” Beattie said of his players. “Sheets made a really good impact on a lot of people really quickly. But they’re adaptive, they’ll get through it and I think after communicating to the players that he’s good and he made the right decision for himself, everyone’s in a good place.”
Once the Anglers’ attention turned to the field, they were locked in a pitching battle early. Both sides were scoreless through two and a half innings.
Bourne starter Tyler Fay’s fastball command and two-strike sliders confused Chatham’s hitters, racking up seven strikeouts through three no-hit innings. While A’s starter Lucas Hartman (Florida Gulf Coast) attacked batters with a rambunctious windup and pounded the strike zone, retiring each of the first seven Braves’ hitters.
Hartman’s run ended in the bottom of the third, though.
A base knock from Bourne’s Clay Grady and Hartman hitting Isaiah Jackson with a pitch put runners on first and second. With two outs, Marek Houston drilled a liner into right field that popped in and out of Larson’s glove. Houston’s single scored Grady, handing Chatham a 1-0 deficit heading into the fourth.
It was the nudge that the Anglers needed to break their hitless spell. They tattooed Fay right afterward, beginning with back-to-back singles from Ike Irish (Auburn) and Chayton Krauss (Dallas Baptist). Aiva Arquette, the East Division’s starting shortstop in the 2024 All-Star Game, pummeled a double to center field that brought Irish and Krauss home.
Chatham’s two-run fourth inning reflected its past 24 hours. A short-term memory is essential in times of significant change. The Anglers can’t take Sheetinger out of their minds. But they can wash away a lifeless start on offense. They did just that Thursday night, offsetting Fay’s early dominance by taking a 2-1 lead.
Yet similar success followed for the Braves. Hartman allowed runners on the corners via a walk to Braden Holcomb and a single by Tristan Bissetta. Garrett Michel drove in Holcomb off a single to right field to tie the game at 2-2. Hartman then loaded the bases just with one out before Bissette scored on a Jackson sacrifice fly.
Bourne led 3-2 as Hartman was replaced by righty reliever JD McReynolds (Central Missouri) with two outs. McReynolds forced Stanfield into a 5-3 groundout to end the inning.
The Anglers refreshed themselves once again in the fifth. Jayden Davis (Vanderbilt) reached third off an infield single followed by a throwing error from Holcomb, and Lodise promptly drove Davis home on an RBI groundout. Fay’s night ended after five innings, allowing three runs. The two sides experienced four lead changes while Fay was in the game.
Soon, the contest saw its fifth — and final — lead change.
The Braves juiced the bags against McReynolds in the bottom of the fifth. It got ugly. Michel took a base on balls to score a run. One at-bat later, Chase Meggers swatted a two-RBI double into left-center field. A 6-3 scoreline in favor of Bourne caused Beattie to swap McReynolds out for right-hander Jacob Heath (West Florida). Yet, it continued to snowball.
Heath immediately hit Grady with a pitch. He fired back to K Jackson, though Stanfield laced a single into center field off Heath that brought two more scores around. Chatham trailed 8-3 after the Braves accumulated five runs in the fifth inning.
“We lost a little bit of control of the tempo of the game there,” Beattie said. “We were out on the field too long.”
By that point, the A’s didn’t have much else to give. Their early resilience struggled to remain intact as they faced a massive deficit that only grew. They had come back from down seven on July 7 in a 13-12 walk-off win over Harwich. But replicating a feat like that is unheard of.
Game one with Beattie didn’t go as planned. The Anglers’ play under Sheetinger provides them with plenty of room for error, however. They’re 5.5 games into a playoff spot and well on their way to qualify. Sheetinger’s exit may sting for now, but Beattie has the time and experience necessary to steer Chatham past its most adverse situation of the summer.
