BOURNE, Mass. — Bourne fell behind in the second inning, but assistant coach Jeff Limoncelli relayed a message as the team headed into the dugout.
“Let's respond like we always do,” Limoncelli said.
Playing from behind and coming back has been the name of the games for the Braves in the playoffs, as they saved their season by doing so with wins against Hyannis and Cotuit in each round.
Bourne once again fell behind early. Yes, the deficit was only a run, but upon the call from Limoncelli, they took the lead right back. Yarmouth-Dennis fought throughout the contest, but the Braves didn’t give up their advantage on the way to claiming a 1-0 lead in the Championship Series after a 5-3 win against the Sox.
Y-D took the early lead in the second with the momentum beginning after a Ryan Niedzwiedz (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville) single. An RBI double hit off the bat from Dean Carpentier (USC) that rolled to the wall scored Niedzwiedz, making the score 1-0 in favor of the Sox.
Bourne responded in the bottom of the frame, as Cal Sefcik (Cincinnati) roped a double. He advanced to third on a sacrifice fly hit by Jason Torres (Alabama), then scored on a wild pitch from Tyler Pitzer (Mississippi State) to tie it up at 1-1.
A walk from Torres in the fourth where he advanced to second on a wild pitch from Pitzer started a scoring spree for Bourne. Following a walk from Ryan Cooney (Oregon), Torres scored on an RBI double from Jon LeGrande (St. John’s).
Gavin Kelly (West Virginia) then reached first on a free pass, which was followed up by a two-run single from Kade Lewis (Wake Forest) in the ensuing at-bat. Kelly then caught Chris Downs (Cal Poly) lacking at the mound, stealing home to put the Braves in front 5-1.
Y-D tacked on another in the fifth, having Jayce Tharnish (St. Bonaventure) reach second base after a single and a double play hit by Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) that moved him over to second. An RBI poked by Will Baker (Georgia Tech) scored Tharnish, resulting in the Braves being in front 5-2.
The Sox continued to chip away in the sixth, getting a run off Nate Whysong (Wake Forest) when he subbed in for Matthew Shorey (Vanderbilt). Nick Costello (UC San Diego) walked, advancing to second after a groundout hit by Niedzwiedz.
Bourne’s lead would be cut to 5-3 after an RBI single hit by Connor Capece (Creighton).
Scoreless baseball ensued, giving Bourne an opportunity to close it out in the ninth, and Whysong shut the door to give the Braves a 1-0 lead in the Championship Series.
Bourne Braves Player of the Game
Whysong once again provided Bourne a spark coming out of the bullpen, tossing four innings where he struck out five hitters, giving just one run and one hit.
Key moment
The four runs scored by the Braves in the fourth gave them enough cushion to pull out the Championship Series lead.
A look ahead
Bourne will travel to Red Wilson Field on Tuesday up 1-0 in the Championship Series with a chance to close it out against Y-D.
First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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