ORLEANS – With two of the Cape’s top high school pitchers going toe-to-toe, and knotted in a 2-2 game heading into the sixth, Sam Majewski came through in the clutch for the Nauset Warriors for a 4-2 win over the Falmouth Clippers Friday night at Eldredge Park.
The nightcap of the Atlantic Coast League Showdown – with Dennis-Yarmouth winning the earlier game, 7-4 over Sandwich – came down to a battle of wills as Majewksi provided the necessary fireworks to make a winner out of southpaw Chris Holcomb.
Nauset’s Willy Boyd led off the sixth with a single and as he was attempting to steal second Ronan Chisholm laid down a bunt and with no one covering third base, Boyd advanced around second on the play to first. With one out, Majewski doubled for a 3-2 lead and what would prove to be the game-winner. Gerritt Merrill followed with a two-out double to make it 4-2 and that was all Nauset needed.
Holcomb went the distance and struck out eight but by the looks of things in the first inning Falmouth came to play and was not going to go down quietly by any stretch of the imagination.
After retiring the Nauset bats in the top of the first inning, Falmouth pitcher and leadoff man Nick Couhig led off with a single and then Gates Kelliher hammered a two-run shot out of the park to give the Clippers a quick, 2-0 lead.
But that lead would prove to be short-lived as Nauset capitalized on a two-out infield error that allowed Trevor Ridley to step in and tie things with his own two-run bomb.
The score remained 2-2 until the sixth when, as noted above, Nauset plated a pair for the eventual win.
Couhig struck out eight, walked one and allowed four runs on five hits for the tough loss. Majewski went 2-3 for Nauset. Holcomb allowed just three hits and walked two while throwing six straight scoreless innings after the two-run first.
Falmouth dropped to 5-12 with the loss while Nauset climbed to 15-4.
— Sean Walsh is the sports editor for www.capecod.com. His email is [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @coachwalshccbm