In an attempt to beat the Friday, long-weekend traffic over the bridge, this Summer School session takes a look around the Cape Cod Baseball League, "America's League."

The defending champion Harwich Mariners are the story of the early part of the season as they take an eight-game win streak into the weekend. It took a tight, 5-3 win over Orleans for them to move into a tie with the Firebirds atop the Eastern Division. Both squads are now 10-2 on the young season. Mariners’ outfielder Phil Ervin (Samford) has put up some big numbers early as he leads the league in home runs (7), RBIs (15), slugging percentage (.935) and is third in batting average (.391) and on-base percentage (.462). Pitchers David Whitehead (Elon) and Aaron Nola (LSU) have both allowed only one run in two starts each.

Orleans had run off eight straight wins of their own before Harwich got a hold of them on Thursday night. Pitching has been the Firebirds strong point thus far as they lead the league with a 2.55 team ERA and have only walked 16 total batters in twelve games. Dylan Clark (Elon), Kyle Crockett (Virginia) and Jarrett Arakawa (Hawaii) have combined for 32 strikeouts and have allowed only two runs over 31 2/3 innings. Clark, a left-handed reliever, has yet to allow a run and has allowed only three hits over seven appearances.

The Falmouth Commodores (7-5) are the only team in the Western Division currently boasting a winning record. Jared King (Kansas State) is off to a nice start, batting .392 (second in the league), with three home runs (tied for second), four stolen bases (tied for sixth) and a .466 on-base percentage (tied for second).

Yarmouth-Dennis hurler Aaron Blair (Marshall) has shined in his three starts, going 3-0 with a 0.50 ERA, 0.94 WHIP and .185 opponent batting average, to go along with 25 strikeouts over 18 innings. Red Sox second baseman Robert Pehl (Washington) leads the league with a .432 batting average.

The Bourne Braves, who started the season 2-1, are in the midst of an eight game losing streak in which they have been outscored 57-25.

After an 0-9 start, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks finally got on the right side of the standings with a 7-6 win over Bourne this past Sunday. Offensively, as a team, they are last in the league in runs scored (32) and hits (76).

WEEKLY HONORS
Week 2
Player – Phil Ervin, Harwich
Pitcher – Aaron Blair, Yarmouth-Dennis

Week 1
Player – Mike Ahmed, Bourne
Pitcher – Aaron Blair, Yarmouth-Dennis