COTUIT, Mass. — The saying is used constantly around all levels of baseball — getting hot at the right time is paramount to a championship run.
Field manager Scott Landers’ Bourne Braves have certainly embodied the message, going into the final game of the regular season on a seven-game unbeaten streak that took them from a below-.500 team to clinching a 20-win season with a doubleheader sweep of the Orleans Firebirds on Saturday.
Catcher John Schroeder ensured his team kept its winning ways as the 2024 campaign came to a close on Sunday.
Arriving at Lowell Park without a home run through his first six games of the summer, the Florida Atlantic product mashed two against Cotuit (22-17-1), totaling six RBI and helping the Braves (21-16-3) win, 11-5, in eight innings to cap off a successful regular season on a high note.
“I don’t really care who we play, we wanted to work on things, give some guys a break, and get some other guys opportunities,” Landers said. “The last two days, they’ve come up really big… We’re ready to go, whoever we play on Tuesday.”
Going down relatively quickly in the first inning, Bourne’s offense got going its next time out. Outfielder Tristan Bissetta (Clemson) led things off by drawing a six-pitch walk, and fellow outfielder Davis Gillespie (Southern Mississippi) moved him to second with a single that just snuck by third baseman Temo Becerra’s (Stanford) glove. Another single from second baseman Blake Barthol (Coastal Carolina) scored Bissetta and put the Braves up 1-0.
Outfielder Mason Neville (Oregon) followed that RBI up with a walk to load the bases, and Schroeder proceeded to blow the game wide open with a 407-foot grand slam into right field.
“He had good swings all day,” Landers said of Schroeder. “It’s good to see him get going a little bit. He’s hit some balls hard right at people, and today, he got rewarded for it.”
Through the game’s first two innings, left-hander Kyle LaCalameto (Houston) was solid, working a 1-2-3 first before running into some trouble in the second frame. Relinquishing two one-out singles and watching second baseman Nolan Nawrocki (Clemson) reach on an error, he ultimately came away without any damage, striking out catcher Grant Jay (Dallas Baptist) to end the inning.
With LaCalameto keeping the Kettleers off the scoresheet early, all Bourne could do was add to its lead. Bissetta helped it do that in the third, clubbing a no-doubt solo shot deep into right-center.
Cotuit finally got to the Braves starter during the bottom of the third, as outfielder Brandon Compton (Arizona State) took him deep with a leadoff blast into center field. An ensuing walk issued to first baseman Tanner Thach (UNC Wilmington) marked the end of LaCalameto’s outing.
He was succeeded by righty Jackson Mitchell (Binghamton), who didn’t turn things around immediately. Two runs — one of which was charged to LaCalameto — scored on a Charles Davalan (Arkansas) double and errant throw home, and the Kettleers put another runner across thanks to a wild pitch from Stewart, making it a 7-4 ballgame.
“We just kind of stuck to our approach,” Schroeder said of his team’s thoughts during Cotuit’s rally. “Kept playing our game. The bats have been hot, and we’re going to keep swinging it. Just stick to our game, keep playing."
Sticking to his approach worked wonders for Schroeder.
After Neville brought Bourne’s lead back to four with an RBI double, he put a barrel on the second pitch he saw in the at-bat, sending his second long ball of the night soaring over the center field wall that ran up the Braves’ run total to double-digits.
Cotuit logged one more run in the fifth, but Bourne restored its six-run lead a half-inning later. From there, righty Packy Bradley-Cooney (Alabama) and southpaw Cam Nelson (Wake Forest) closed the game’s final two frames.
Hitter of the Game — Davis Gillespie
In a crowded group of outfielders, it’s difficult for some to see consistent reps even if their play warrants it. Gillespie certainly falls into that category.
In 22 games this season, he’s gone 22-for-82 (.268) with seven RBI and has remained a consistent hitter despite not being in the lineup every day. Gillespie showed his readiness against Cotuit on Sunday with a 2-for-5 performance at the dish.
During his first at-bat of the evening in the second, Gillespie lined a single to left field that set the table for Barthol’s RBI single. The Alabama native was brought around to score not long after thanks to Schroeder’s grand slam.
Gillespie doubled the next time he came up to follow Bissetta’s solo shot that led off the fifth inning. He moved to third on a groundout and scored his second run of the game thanks to a wild pitch.
“They were staying the same arm it seemed,” Gillespie said. “So we kind of got into a groove as an offense. We’ve been hitting well lately the past 10 games, so I think we just kept it rolling today.”
Pitcher of the Game — Packy Bradley-Cooney
When Bradley-Cooney trotted from the bullpen to the bump to start the bottom of the sixth, he wasn’t walking into a high-leverage situation. That didn’t matter to Landers, though, who wanted to give the righty a chance to redeem himself following a shaky outing against the Wareham Gatemen on July 31.
Bradley-Cooney did just that.
He nearly worked a 1-2-3 frame, inducing the first two outs in six pitches. However, Bradley-Cooney conceded a single and threw a wild pitch, allowing Compton to take second base. He then settled back in, striking out Thach for the third out. After getting the first out of the seventh, Bradley-Cooney was taken out for Nelson.
“He threw great, and that’s what I expect out of him,” Landers said. “I wanted to get him back out there after the other day. He did an awesome job commanding his fastball, commanding his slider.”
A look ahead
Locked in as the four-seed in the West following Wareham’s victory over Falmouth, Bourne will head to McKeon Park for a one-game playoff against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, who won the division’s regular-season title, on Tuesday.
The Braves faced the Hawks in the semifinal round of last year’s tournament, winning the series in three games to advance to the Championship. Through the regular season, Bourne went 3-0-2 against Hyannis, with the two teams’ most recent meeting — a 6-6 tie that ended after seven innings due to fog — coming on Aug. 2.
Both teams' starters, in addition to the first pitch, are to be determined.
Notes
Bissetta concluded the regular season on an 11-game on-base streak… Outfielder Ethan Conrad (Wake Forest) has the second-highest average on the Cape (.385), only seven points below league-leader Jarren Advincula (California). He also has the second-highest OPS (.919), trailing only Ethan Petry (South Carolina)... Infielder Braden Holcomb (Vanderbilt) boasts the fourth-highest average in the CCBL (.333)... Shortstop Marek Houston (Wake Forest) has the second-best on-base percentage (.465) in the league… Bourne’s 393 strikeouts thrown are the second-most in the CCBL… The Braves also have the lowest ERA (3.96) in the entire league.
