WAREHAM, Mass. — Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s message to his players after games is simple. Don’t let the past affect your current performance.
He re-emphasized the mantra after Falmouth’s 4-1 loss to Yarmouth-Dennis on Saturday. The Commodores couldn’t do anything offensively, pushing across their one measly run despite 11 hits. But Saltalamacchia said postgame that the blemish shouldn’t wipe away their recent success, winning 8-of-12 games.
“ We don't put more pressure on ourselves tomorrow,” Saltalmacchia said on Saturday. “We've been too good offensively to allow this game to affect us.”
The Commodores instead were run over by Wareham on Sunday. Falmouth (11-12-1) was demolished 12-3 by the Gatemen (11-13-0). The combination of Laif Palmer and Mac Stiffler allowed Wareham to post back-to-back five and four-run innings in the second and third. Falmouth never recovered, pushing it back under .500 on the year.
The last time Falmouth played Wareham, the Commodores were in control. They cruised to an 11-4 victory, capitalizing off seven Gatemen errors.
But Wareham was the team controlling the pace on Sunday.
Like it did earlier in the season, Falmouth made some changes to its lineup on Sunday. Antonio Morales moved to the leadoff spot after Carl Schmidt had occupied the position for much of the year. Bear Harrison also slid into cleanup with Maika Niu and Adrian Lopez preparing for the MLB Draft.
But for the second straight day, Falmouth hurt itself on the bases. After five outs on the bases against Y-D, Wareham starter Cooper Consiglio picked off two runners at first across the first two innings, keeping Falmouth scoreless.
Wareham instantly took advantage. Laif Palmer (Cal Poly) made his first start of the summer Sunday after allowing four runs to Chatham in his debut. He didn’t improve on Sunday.
Palmer started on the right foot, forcing Brayden Randle and Hunter Carns to pop out in a scoreless first. His success was short-lived. With two outs in the second, six straight Wareham batters reached base. That led to a five-run inning.
Drew Rogers delivered the big blow in his first at-bat with the Gatemen after coming over from Brewster. Despite Wareham’s bench barking for a balk on Palmer, Rogers instead smashed a three-run homer to left, making it 3-0. The Gateman tacked on twice more on a Randle RBI double and Levi Clark infield single.
That was the first sign of trouble. But unknowingly, Falmouth had already dug itself into a bottomless pit.
Still, it had seven innings to fight back. Instead, the Commodores just kicked themselves down further. Despite two runners reaching in the third and their third straight leadoff single, Antonio Morales was caught stealing, stalling their momentum.
Meanwhile, Falmouth made a pitching change, looking to keep its deficit manageable. It swapped Palmer for Mac Stiffler (West Virginia), but he didn’t even last one inning. Stiffler couldn’t find the zone early, walking two and hitting Caden McDonald with no outs.
Wareham buried Falmouth once and for all with another big inning. Two more runs came in after a Vance Sheahan sac fly and Morales throwing error. Johns Hopkins’ Grant Meert entered to try to limit the damage, but the Gatemen’s train couldn’t be stopped.
Once the dust settled, Wareham led 9-0 after Randle and Clark notched their second RBIs of the game.
Falmouth looked to be officially out of the running. All Wareham had to do was not implode.
Despite Meert (Johns Hopkins) and Deven Sheerin (LSU) giving Falmouth a reprieve with scoreless fourth and fifth innings, Consiglio also worked his first 1-2-3 inning of the game in the fourth, keeping the momentum on Wareham’s side.
Falmouth briefly fought back with three runs across the fifth and sixth innings. Ashton Wilson, Harrison and Justin Osterhouse all collected RBIs to make it 9-3. But the surge was a moot point.
The Commodores’ offense went quiet to end the game. Wareham’s Patrick Galle sat them down in order, including getting Wilson to strike out in the seventh. Then, after the Gateman added three more runs, Tommy Skelding and Logan Baisley put Falmouth out of its misery.
Saltalamacchia’s message didn’t lead to success on Sunday. Instead, Falmouth struggled in all departments. The Commodores didn’t put up much of a fight versus Wareham, leading to their second straight loss.
Noah Nussbaum is the beat reporter for the Falmouth Commodores. You can read all of his articles on the Commodores here.
