It took them a week and a day, but the Falmouth Commodores finally picked up a victory on Saturday, rallying from a 3-2 deficit with two runs in the eighth to beat Y-D 4-3. Falmouth had lost seven in a row to start the season.
Andrew Heaney (Oklahoma State) pitched well and kept Falmouth in the game early. He allowed just a run on six hits and struck out five in five innings. Reliever Taylor Sandefur (Western Carolina) allowed the go-ahead runs to score in his first inning of work but settled down to pitch two more scoreless innings. He eventually got the win when Falmouth rallied. John Simms (Rice) got the save with a scoreless ninth.
Falmouth’s rally started in the eighth when Jack Marder (Oregon) singled with one out. Marder, a draft-eligible sophomore who went in the 16th-round this year, has been one of Falmouth’s few hot hitters. He went 3-for-4 last night to take over the league lead in batting average.
After Marder singled, he stole second and came around on a pair of errors by Y-D. Jeremy Baltz (St. John’s) then scored the go-ahead run on a sacrifice fly by Spencer Kieboom (Clemson).
While the win isn’t a cure-all — the Commodores still have the lowest team batting average in the league — there’s no reason it can’t be a jump-start. I look at the Falmouth lineup and see a team that’s perfectly capable of hanging with everybody. Maybe Saturday was a first step.
Elsewhere
Brewster’s been the hottest-hitting team in the league, but Cotuit out-did the Whitecaps in a 4-3 win on Saturday — and became the hottest-hitting team in the process. With a nine-hit day, the Kettleers are now hitting a league-best .293. They were led on this night by Victor Roache (Georgia Southern), who has officially picked up where he left off after an enormous spring. Roache went 1-for-3 with a homer, two runs scored and two RBI. He’s now hitting .440 and is tied for the league lead with two home runs and nine RBI. Cody Stubbs (Walters State), a 14th-round pick this year who has struggled in Cotuit, also had two RBI. Kyle Zimmer (San Francisco) got the win for Cotuit. Brewster scored all its runs on a three-run homer by Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook).
Harwich tied Hyannis for the league lead in wins with an 8-5 victory over the Harbor Hawks. Mike Garza (Georgetown) went 3-for-4 with three doubles to lead Harwich and John Wooten (East Carolina) went 2-for-4 with three RBI, as the Mariners took a lead in the fifth and never lost it. Anthony Pisani (Rhode Island) got the win in relief and Blake Hauser (Virginia Commonwealth) picked up the save. For Hyannis, Dan Gulbransen (Jacksonville) had another hit to stretch his season-long hitting streak to seven games.
Orleans beat Wareham 7-3 for its second win in a row. The Firebirds scored three in the second and on in the third and then never trailed. Steve Selsky (Arizona) went 3-for-5 with a home run for Orleans, and he’s now six for his last 10 with four RBI. Jake Hernandez (USC), who didn’t have ah it coming in, went 2-for-4 with three RBI. John Brebbia (Elon) started and pitched four scoreless frames. Nick Mutz got the win as Orleans moved to 4-2-1.
Bourne built a 6-2 lead and held off the hard-charging Chatham Anglers to win 6-5. R.J. Alvarez (Florida Atlantic) slammed the door for Bourne. He came in with the bases loaded in the eighth, got out of it with minimal damage then struck out the side in the ninth to seal it. The win went to starter Ryne Stanek (Arkansas). A third-round pick last year, Stanek made his first start and allowed two runs in five innings. The Bourne offense was led by Garrett Cannizaro (Tulane), who had two RBI.
What to Watch
Games: Another full slate of doubleheaders. Orleans, winners of two straight, is hosting Cotuit, who’s won three of four.
Players: Orleans will start two pitchers who are very much worth watching. In the first game, Ryan Carpenter makes his return to the Cape. Long a hyped prospect, the Gonzaga junior has never quite put it all together and slipped to the seventh round this year. He was good on the Cape last year, though. In game two, Orleans will start Marcus Stroman, the Duke sophomore who’s heading for Team USA in the near future. He struck out five in three innings in his first appearance of the summer.
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