North Carolina State University Athletics
Overman Nails Down Cape League Title For Harwich
8/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 15, 2011
FALMOUTH, Mass. — During the 10-week Cape Cod League season, Harwich Mariners reliever Chris Overman went from closer to set-up man to middle reliever and back to closer for the Cape League playoffs. And in the end, it was Overman who put the finishing touches on a league championship for the Mariners.
Harwich wrapped up the 2011 Cape Cod League championship Saturday night with a 7-5 victory over the Falmouth Commodores at Guv Fuller Field in Falmouth. And for the third time in as many playoff series, Overman was on the mound to nail down the save in the deciding game.
“That was just awesome,” Overman said. “As a reliever, that’s what you want. You want that pressure. You want to be out there at the end of the game and to do your best. It was real special.”
Overman’s third playoff save was dramatic, to say the least. He entered the game with two men on base and two out in the bottom of the eighth inning and struck out Connecticut’s Rob Moore to end the frame.
Holding a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Overman loaded the bases with nobody out on three consecutive singles and Falmouth’s 2-3-4 hitters due up. No problem. Overman worked out of the jam without allowing a run. First he retired Reid Redman on a pop-up to third base, then struck out Falmouth MVP Jeremy Baltz.
That brought cleanup hitter Jake Rodriguez to the plate. Rodriguez worked the count to 3-2, meaning all three runners would be off with the next pitch, but Overman got Rodriguez to pop up behind the plate to preserve the victory.
“That inning was just how our season went,” Overman said. “It wasn’t always easy, but we usually found a way to get it done.”
The Cape League championship was the first for Harwich since 2008 and only its third in the last 25 years.
Overman appeared in four of Harwich’s seven playoff games and earned three saves. He worked 4 2/3 shutout innings in the playoffs, allowing four hits and striking out three without a walk. All three saves came in series-clinching games for the M’s.
“I like being out there when the pressure is on,” he said. “Even earlier in the year when I was pitching in the sixth and seventh innings, I treated it like it was the ninth. That’s just the way I approach it.”
The playoffs provided a fitting ending for Overman’s storybook summer. A rising junior for the Wolfpack, Overman appeared in a team-high 23 games — regular season and playoffs combined — and pitched 33 innings without allowing an earned run. He allowed one run the entire summer, an unearned tally July 19 vs. Cotuit. He allowed 15 hits, struck out 28 and walked just seven.
To cap things off, he pitched a perfect sixth inning for the East Division team in the Cape Cod League All-Star Game on July 29, and then was on the mound when Harwich wrapped up the league championship.
“This was one of the best groups I’ve ever played with,” Overman said. “We started out really strong, kind of flattened out in the middle, and then finished strong. We lost our first playoff game, and then won the last six in a row. It was a great way to finish it off.”
The summer in Harwich also was fruitful for former Wolfpack pitcher Jason Blanton, who served as the Mariners’ pitching coach. The M’s battled attrition on their pitching staff much of the summer, with pitchers coming and going, and often changing roles in midstream.
Harwich finished the regular season with a 3.35 staff ERA, then was nearly untouchable in the playoffs, winning six of seven playoff games, posting a 1.71 ERA and limiting opposing hitters to a .224 batting average.
“Jason did a fantastic job with our pitchers all summer,” Harwich manager Steve Englert said. “We juggled pitchers on our roster all summer, and he was great with those guys and really helped them understand what it takes to be successful and to pitch at the next level. He’s an outstanding coach.”
