BOURNE, Mass. — Some things just go well together. Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. But most importantly, the Bourne Braves and winning in the playoffs.
It sure didn’t take long for Bourne to get back to business come playoff time. The Bravos were dominant from start to finish on Wednesday night, securing a series win over the Falmouth Commodores and a spot in the West Division Finals against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
Bourne got the night started off right in the second inning. After showing out in game one with a three-run triple, RF Luke Costello (South Carolina) made a long-awaited display of his power to start game two. The Braves’ cleanup hitter launched a deep fly ball to straight-away center field for his first home run of the season. The long ball gave Bourne a 1-0 lead, which would be doubled later in the frame following a sacrifice fly from C Brice Estep (South Carolina).
Costello’s blast wasn’t the only power the Braves displayed in the contest. Left fielder Justin Osterhouse also recorded his first home run of the summer: a three-run bomb in the fifth inning.
“It's been a grind,” said Osterhouse after the game. “A lot of these guys know, it’s hard to get hits up here with the pitching in this league. I’ve been grinding out these at-bats and they went my way today. I didn’t do much different; I stuck to my game and it worked out.”
The rising senior at Alabama joined the Braves just a couple weeks before the postseason on July 20. In 12 regular season games, Osterhouse struggled to find his rhythm at the plate and batted just .206 with five walks and eight strikeouts. Though he went hitless in his first playoff game, Osterhouse made a couple of spectacular catches in left field that helped Bourne secure a game one win and kept him in the starting lineup on Wednesday.
“He had good at-bats tonight,” said Field Manager Scott Landers after the game. “He was locked in with his plan. The game didn’t get too big, and he was putting good swings on balls.”
Another star for the Braves in their opening playoff series was 3B Austin Hawke (Wake Forest), who went 5-for-8 with a double and four RBI in the series against Falmouth. In Wednesday’s win, he had three hits and two RBI.
“We’re just playing for each other,” said Hawke about the Braves’ series win. “It gets tough when you clinch the playoffs… but these last few games we’ve played for each other, moving runners around and making plays. Just playing together.”
On the defensive side, Bourne’s pitching staff had a dominant showing. Righty Ben Dean (Duke) made his second start of the summer on the mound, throwing 4.0 innings. Though he allowed both of the Commodores’ runs on Wednesday night, he also recorded eight strikeouts: tied for the most by a Braves pitcher this season. After Dean’s night was done, Bourne’s bullpen closed out the series sweep. Right-handed pitcher Maddox Webb (Mississippi State), LHP Joshua Surigao (West Virginia), and RHP Zach Kittrell (Alabama) each made shutout appearances, combining for nine strikeouts between the three. The Braves’ 17 strikeouts were tied for the most by their pitching staff since 2024.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Bourne Braves secured a spot in the West Division Finals, where they will face the one-seeded Hyannis Harbor Hawks. Hyannis took care of business in their own first-round series against the Cotuit Kettleers, winning both games the teams played.
In the East, three-seed Harwich secured a series-sweep of two-seed Brewster to advance to the East Division Finals, while one-seed Y-D forced a winner-take-all game three matchup with Chatham.
BOURNEBRAVES.ORG PLAYER OF THE GAME
Justin Osterhouse is tonight’s Player of the Game. The Alabama product had his biggest game as a Brave this summer, hitting his first home run as part of his two-hit, three-RBI night. Osterhouse finishes the series batting .333 with a 1.333 OPS.
NEXT UP
The Braves will head to the next round of the 2026 Cape Cod Baseball League Playoffs, presented by Readers Hardwood Supply, to take on Hyannis in game one of the West Division Finals. Game one will be played on Friday at McKeon Park, with the time of first pitch to be announced.
