BOURNE, Mass. — Last time the Kettleers traveled to Doran Park, they watched longingly from the visitor’s dugout as the Braves celebrated a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth.

This time around, the Bourne bats and pitchers didn’t stand a chance against the powerful Cotuit arms and fiery bats, and the visitors pummeled the home team, 10-3, Saturday night.

Both offenses were relatively silent until the top of the third inning. Five straight singles from Cam Johnson (Oklahoma), Andrew Wiggins (portal), Case Sanderson (Nebraska), Dean West (UCLA) and Caden Bogenpohl (Missouri State) put the Kettleers up 3-0.

On a last-minute scratch of initial starter Lukas Pirko, Max Haug (George Washington) was tapped to fill in for the Texas Tech right-hander.

And boy, did he deliver.

In four innings of work, Haug fanned five Braves and only surrendered one hit, which came in the bottom of the second.

“The slider started off early. I was putting that in the zone,” Haug said of what worked well for him. “The changeup took a little longer to figure out, but I got that rolling.”

Wyatt Halvorson (Arizona State) and Dylan Scudder (Bryant) locked down the Braves for the remaining five innings, combining for just four hits and three runs the rest of the way.

The Bourne pitching staff couldn’t do the same as Cotuit’s when the seventh inning rolled around.

Two singles and a walk loaded the bases for Bogenpohl, who worked the count full before walking in a run to put the Kettleers up 4-1.

Jack Natili (Cincinnati) collected an RBI for himself when Bourne reliever Colin Fisher plunked him with a pitch.

With two outs, Nolan Stevens (Oklahoma) stepped into the batter’s box. The outfielder had been relatively quiet at the plate, going down swinging in his previous three at-bats.

Not this time.

On the fourth pitch he saw, Stevens laced the ball over the right field wall for the Kettleers’ fourth grand slam of the season.

Braves manager Scott Landers flew out of the dugout to protest the home run, claiming that the ball bounced and should therefore be a ground-rule double.

The umpiring staff met and determined the call stood. Stevens had knocked his second home run of the year and broke the game wide open at 9-1 Ketts.

“Instead of letting (the three strikeouts) affect me and make me doubt myself, I use it as fuel,” Stevens said. “Be mad and be able to take out your frustration on the ball.”

The Kettleers added one more run on a double from Wiggins in the eighth to take a 10-1 lead.

The Braves tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a double off the bat of Braden Holcomb (Vanderbilt), cutting the score to 10-3, which held through the ninth.

Notes

Stevens’ home run Saturday moved the Kettleers into sixth in the league in home runs (13).

The grand slam added to Cotuit’s league-leading total on the season (four).

Halvorson continues to be a dominant arm out of the bullpen, holding the lowest reliever ERA on the team (2.29).

Looking ahead

On Sunday at Lowell Park is one of the most exciting — and furriest — days of the year! Bark in the Park Night is back for its fifth year!

(The Kettleers also face Hyannis beginning at 5 p.m.)