COTUIT, Mass. – Gavin Turley (Oregon State) snuck a late double in the top of the ninth sending Luke Gaffney (Clemson) home, but the rally fizzled out with a strikeout and the Falmouth Commodores fell 5-2 to the Cotuit Kettleers on Thursday.
“They threw out three top-tier arms today,” Turley said on Cotuit's pitching. “As you can see our lineup didn’t necessarily do what they need to do, but I don’t blame them because it was a challenge today.”
The first inning was a pitchers' duel between Commodore starting pitcher Tanner Smith (Harvard) and Kettleer starting pitcher Thatcher Hurd (LSU). Smith put Cotuit away with three punchouts and Hurd responded with three strikeouts on Falmouth.
Charles Davalan (FGCU) sent a single down the line to left field to mark the first hit of the night. Two wild pitches put Davalan in scoring position, and then Tyler Cerny (Indiana) grounded the ball to clinch the run from Davalan to put the Kettleers up first, 1-0, going into the top of the third.
Smith gave up two walks in the bottom of the third, but he was able to tie the loose ends with a strikeout to get the Commodores back to hitting. Hurd picked up his third three-and-done inning in the top of the fourth, continuing to stump Falmouth’s offense.
Riley Stanford (Georgia Tech) replaced Smith on the hill for the bottom of the fourth. Matt Klein (Louisville) got a solo home run off Stanford to push Cotuit to a 2-0 lead.
Some steam was put into the Commodores' hitting with a solo home run from Turley to get Falmouth on the board, 2-1, in the top of the fifth. The Kettleers put the damper on their momentum with a groundout on Isaiah Barkett (Stetson).
“We’re just hoping to square it up and make hard contact,” Turley said on Falmouth’s hitting.
It began to unravel for Falmouth in the bottom of the eighth with an error then a balk from Bowen Baker (Fairfield) to give Cotuit two runs and extend it to 4-1. Brandon Compton (Arizona State) got the Kettleers' fourth hit of the night to punch in another run to extend their lead to 5-1 going into the top of the ninth.
Despite Turley’s late RBI, the outs caught up to the Commodores quickly, breaking their two-game win streak and still leaving them in the hunt for their first away game win.
Falmouth (5-11) will stay on the road to take on the Brewster Whitecaps (6-10) at Stony Brook Field on Friday with the first pitch set for 5 p.m.
You can get live game updates on Instagram and X @FalCommodores or tune in to the live radio broadcast featuring Aiden Blanc and MJ Newsom on YouTube @FalmouthCommodores.
