FALMOUTH, Mass. — All it took for Bourne was one pitch to take the lead.
Ryker Waite (Vanderbilt) saw the first pitch from Easton Barrett (Arizona State) in the first inning, and gave it a ride for a 403-foot home run to left center field for a 1-0 Braves lead.
A half inning later, Falmouth took the lead and never looked back, and in typical Braves fashion, the bats came alive late, but weren’t enough to come out on top in an 8-6 loss to the Commodores.
The ensuing half inning after Waite’s solo shot saw Falmouth not trailing for long, as Carl Schmidt (California) and Antonio Morales ripped off consecutive singles. Schmidt would then score on an RBI single from Adrian Lopez (USC). Schmidt tacked on another to take the 2-1 lead, following an RBI groundout from Kent Schmidt (Georgia Tech).
An inning later, the Commodores enhanced their lead, as Kyle Morales (South Alabama) and Schmit reached on walks, scoring off a hard hit ball by Lopez that went off the glove of Ryan Cooney (Oregon) at third base for an error, pushing the score to 4-1.
Just like the first two innings for Falmouth, two more runs would be scored, as Kent would be hit by a pitch, which was followed by a Bear Harrison (Texas A&M) single. A pair of RBI singles from Mark Quatraini (Cornell) and Kyle Morrison would increase the lead to 6-1.
The Braves had life in the fourth, as Kuhio Aloy (Arkansas) and Kade Lewis (Wake Forest) both scored following a Logan Hughes (Texas Tech) two-run double. Hughes then cut the deficit to 6-4 following his score on an RBI single from Jon LeGrande (St. John’s).
Falmouth then answered right back a half inning later, as a Morales double would have him score on a home run by Maika Niu (Marshall), making the score 8-4.
Bourne once again cut into the lead for Falmouth in the top of the seventh. It started with a LeGrande single before he reached second on a wild pitch. Jimmy Keenan (Wake Forest) then singled and advanced to second on a fielder’s choice by Waite. LeGrande scored on an RBI single from Aloy, while Keenan touched home plate on a passed ball to make the score 8-6.
Aloy singled and Hughes walked in the ninth, but the bats couldn't get them in, as Bourne would lose its fifth straight.
Bourne Braves player of the game
Kuhio Aloy went 2-for-4 with a run, RBI and a walk in just his second start and third game as a Brave.
Key moment
Once again, going down big early was a problem, as the Braves faced a 6-1 deficit after three innings of play.
A look ahead
Bourne (4-9-1, 9 points) will play Orleans (6-8, 12 points) at Doran Park on Thursday. The last time the squads met, the Braves came out victorious 2-1 following a lights-out pitching performance from Alex Valentin (South Carolina) and a home run from Logan Hughes in the ninth.
First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
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Follow Lyle on X, @lalenstein. Feature photo by Shannen Hardy. Follow Shannen on Instagram, @shannenhardy_media.
