By Jacob Tobey, staff reporter
The Storm experienced a busy but very successful week as they had five games between Monday the 13th and Sunday the 19th.
On Monday, the team played the first of two games against South Shore Christian at Lowell Park and won 14-2. Sophomore Cooper Gavin was on the mound as he got his first start and pitched six innings, recording seven strikeouts, walking nobody, and only letting up three hits. Senior captain Connor Bryant went 2-for-2 with a walk, sacrifice fly, a single, a double, and five RBI. Sophomore Ryan Havey was up in the bottom of the sixth and hit a two RBI double to win the game on a “slaughter rule” (the games ends if the deficit is at least 12 runs after five innings).
Havey commented on what it felt like to get the deciding hit, “Well I approached the plate with a lot of confidence and I knew I would drive the ball hard somewhere. When I made contact I knew it was good. It was a good feeling ending the game like that.”
On Tuesday, the Storm played at Cape Cod Academy and kept the winning streak going as they won 6-4. The Storm’s ace Senior Kyle Garvey was on the hill and pitched a complete game, striking out seven while allowing seven hits and walking three batters. When Sturgis was down 4-2 in the fifth inning, Garvey hit a two-run double to tie the ballgame up, and Connor Bryant followed with a single for the go-ahead RBI, one of his five RBI on the day. Senior captain Ben Duncan went 2-for-4 on the day. With this win, Sturgis East officially made the state tournament for the second consecutive year.
Sophomore Kevin Agostinelli explained how he felt after qualifying for the tourney for the second time in his Sturgis career, “It definitely feels good, but our objective at the start of the season was to at least qualify. I think we've come to the point where we as a baseball franchise believe that making the state tournament should be an annual routine. As for winning a state game at Lowell Park? That is our ultimate goal for this year."
East next played on Wednesday against Cape Tech at Lowell Park and Luke Chevalier dominated as he collected twelve strikeouts in a 5-0 win. He pitched a complete game, which is becoming a normal thing for him and for Kyle Garvey. Seven of the nine Sturgis batters got a hit in the cohesive win. Ben Duncan went 1-for-2 with a walk and drove in two RBIs, while Ryan Havey, Kevin Agostinelli, and Ryan Bracken recorded the other three RBIs. Connor Bryant also went 2-for-3 with a single and a double.
Thursday, the Storm kept on rolling as they won in a blowout fashion, 11-2, against South Shore Christian for the second time in four days. Despite committing four errors, the team was boosted by their power hitters Connor Bryant, who went 2-for-3 with four RBIs, and Austin Taubert, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs. Coach Levine sat Chevalier, Havey, Duncan, and Agostinelli as he wanted to give a chance for the bench players to get some time on the diamond. Ian Devine threw a gem in his second start of the year, allowing just one hit in six innings and striking out nine batters.
Sunday was a matinee game against East’s rival, Sturgis West. With arguably the largest crowd on hand this season for the Storm, the fans got to see a show as Kyle Garvey pitched his second no-hitter in two seasons at Lowell Park, leading Sturgis to a 13-0 victory. Garvey threw the first no-hitter in team history last spring against New Testament, and he was on his game as usual as he fanned nine batters and had zero walks. Garvey also had a good day offensively, going 3-3 with a pair of doubles, three runs scored, and one stolen base. In the bottom of the fifth inning, senior center fielder Ian Devine made a phenomenal diving catch to preserve the no-hitter.
Garvey reflected on his second career no-hitter, “It felt awesome, especially against West. The coaches told everyone not to say anything and told the people playing to make all the plays, and that’s why Ian made that great catch to save the no-hitter.”
Sturgis now sits at 11-3, 5-2 in the Cape and Islands League. The boys look to continue their eight-game winning streak against Sturgis West for the third time this season on Wednesday, and they will travel to New Testament High School on Thursday to finish off their season. As Coach Levine has reiterated for the past couple of weeks, “The journey continues.” 
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