YARMOUTH, Mass. — The Bourne Braves weren’t able to slay the giant that is the Y-D Red Sox, falling 2-0 in a battle between first-place teams.
The game was concluded after the top of the eighth due to incoming rain, putting the Bravos’ offense out of its suffering. Bourne managed to only record two hits and was shut out for the first time this season.
“They [Y-D] threw strikes and commanded all their pitches,” said Landers after the game. “We just didn’t get anything going offensively.”
Y-D starter Easton Teel (Oral Roberts) dominated the Braves over the five innings he pitched. Teel didn’t allow a hit and only walked two batters. Despite only having two strikeouts, he managed to avoid hard contact from the Bourne bats.
The Braves had both of their hits come in the sixth inning after Teel left the game. RF Cooper Williams (Troy) led the inning off with a double down the right field line to break up the no-hitter. During the next at-bat, though, Williams was picked off while attempting to steal third. That would prove to be a costly mistake, as 3B Paul Vasquez drove a ball to the fence in left for his first Braves hit.
“I was just trying to see the ball out front and put a good swing on it,” said Vasquez. “I struggled with that yesterday, so that’s all I was really trying to do today.”
The Braves found themselves down from the jump in Friday’s game. The first Red Sox batter of the game, Dante Vachini (Cal Poly), took a 2-0 pitch deep to center field and cleared the fence for his third home run of the year. In the fourth, the Red Sox added another run on a bases-loaded walk to give them their second and final run of the night.
The bright spot of the game for the Braves was once again their bullpen. Bourne had two new arms, RHP Christian Lucarelli (Virginia) and RHP Dallin Harrison (Rutgers), make their debut in the loss. The two combined to toss 3.1 scoreless innings, with each allowing just one hit.
WHAT IT MEANS
Tonight’s loss for the Braves snaps their four-game win streak, which was the longest of the season so far. However, Bourne maintains their lead in the West division after entering the night up four points on second-place Falmouth, whose game got postponed. With the win, Y-D moves to a staggering 19-2-1 record on the season.
BOURNEBRAVES.ORG PLAYER OF THE GAME
Paul Vasquez is tonight’s Player of the Game. In his second game as a Brave, Vasquez picked up his first hit of the summer. Vasquez joins Bourne after hitting .296 with eight home runs this past spring as an Oregon State Beaver.
NEXT UP
The Braves will look to get back in the win column on Saturday, heading to Falmouth for their third straight road game. First pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. ET.
