HYANNIS, Mass. — It just doesn’t get better than playoff baseball.
In one of the wildest games in the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) this season, the Bourne Braves pulled off a spectacular 12-11 win on Friday night. The game one victory against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks in the West Division Finals puts the Braves on the doorstep of the CCBL Championship Series.
The Braves had plenty of heroes in the win, but none were bigger than Austin Hawke. Bourne’s nine-hole hitter went 5-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored and four RBI. His final hit came with the Bravos down 10-9 in the eighth inning. With two outs, Hawke hit a bases-clearing double to the fence in right center to give Bourne a late-game lead.
“I was trying to be on time and see the ball out front,” said Hawke after the win. “Just trying to help the team any possible way I could do it.”
Hawke joined the Braves in the middle of July. He started the summer with the Danville Otterbots of the Appalachian League, where he hit .333 with a 1.066 OPS over 22 games. When Hawke got to Bourne, however, he struggled to produce at the plate. In 13 regular season games, Hawke had only eight hits.
“He was a little banged up for a while. Now he’s healthy and putting swings on the ball,” said Field Manager Scott Landers about Hawke. “His barrel is faster right now and he simplified a lot of things… I’m excited for him.”
Once the playoffs started, Austin Hawke was a completely different player. In his first playoff game against Falmouth, he went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI. He followed that up with a three-hit performance the next day, driving in two more to help the Braves win the series. Now, he has a total of 10 hits and eight RBI through three postseason contests.
“That’s just what he does at the end of the day,” said RF Luke Costello (South Carolina), Hawke’s teammate at Wake Forest the past two years. “It’s tough getting adjusted to the Cape League at the beginning. People hadn’t seen it yet, but that’s the real Austin Hawke. This is what he does all the time. He’s always ready to compete with the best of them.”
Like his former Demon Deacons teammate, Costello also had a big night at the plate. The Braves’ right fielder had a three-hit, three-walk performance.
His first hit of the night came as Bourne built a big lead to start the game. Costello drove a double to left field in the first inning that gave the Braves an early 1-0 lead. They kept that momentum going into the second frame, where a three-run home run from CF Matt Bolton (Binghamton) capped off a five-run inning. After scoring two more runs on a third-inning double by SS Ryker Waite, Bourne found itself ahead 8-1.
Their big lead didn’t last long, though. Heading into the bottom of the fifth with a 9-2 advantage, the Braves’ pitching staff ran into trouble. Hyannis collected four hits in the frame to drive in three runs and cut the lead to four. The next inning, Hyannis had five runners cross the plate to take a one-run lead.
“We just needed to be resilient,” said Costello about the Braves’ mentality after giving up the lead. “Baseball’s a game of ups and downs. Stuff like that is going to happen all the time… it’s just something you have to deal with.”
Though losing a seven-run lead can easily break a team, the Braves didn’t give up. Down one run, Bourne started a new rally in the eighth inning. A single from Costello and a pair of walks loaded the bases just in time for Hawke to step up to the plate. From there, he hit the double that would eventually give the Bravos the win.
With the game on the line in the ninth, the Harbor Hawks threatened a walk-off. Hyannis came within one run of the lead, but stranded runners on first and second to end the contest.
WHAT IT MEANS
The Braves are now just one game away from going to their fifth-straight CCBL Championship Series. They will have the opportunity to clinch the West Division Finals at home, with game two to be played at Doran Park.
In the East Division Finals, Harwich withstood a late rally by Y-D to go up 1-0 in the series. They will have the opportunity to win that series at home on Saturday evening.
BOURNEBRAVES.ORG PLAYER OF THE GAME
Austin Hawke is tonight’s Player of the Game. The rising junior had the biggest game of any Brave this summer, recording five hits and four RBI to lead his team to the win. Hawke is the first Bourne player to have a five-hit game since Braden Holcomb did so against Y-D last August in the Braves’ championship-clinching win.
NEXT UP
Game two of the West Division Finals of the 2026 Cape Cod Baseball League Playoffs, presented by Readers Hardwood Supply, will be on Saturday evening at Doran Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. ET. Check out the Braves’ social media for updates and parking instructions.
