FALMOUTH, Mass. — Falmouth’s season looked to be going down the drain.

It had just one runner reach third through seven innings and trailed Chatham 3-0. There was no reason to think anything would change across the final two frames. The Commodores made one last stand.

They loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth on Adrian Lopez and Reece Moroney walks and a Mason Eckelman hit by pitch.

Falmouth took advantage. An Antonio Morales bunt single and Carl Schmidt RBI groundout kick-started the ‘Dores’ rally. Kent Schmidt followed by tying the game at three with an infield single to shortstop.

The ‘Dores had hope. They sat just one hit away from taking the lead, something that seemed impossible through the first eight innings.

And the most unlikely player delivered the knockout blow. Gavin Greger, who’d arrived in Falmouth just 10 hours ago, punched an RBI single into left to give the Commodores their first lead of the game.

Chatham had nothing left in the tank. PJ Rogan closed out the game in the ninth, helping Falmouth (15-21-1) down the Anglers (15-19-3) 4-3, behind its four-run, eighth-inning comeback. The victory kept the Commodores within two points of a playoff berth with three games remaining.

“They threw some good arms and we just hung in there until the very end,” Greger said postgame. “We all did a good job of putting together some good at-bats. Obviously it worked pretty well for us.”

Falmouth entered the game off a serious high, too. Thirteen runs. Eleven hits. There were smiles all around after Falmouth finally escaped its season-high six-game skid with a 13-1 win over Hyannis.

The offensive explosion versus the Harbor Hawks was a complete 180 from Falmouth’s recent games. Its offense had been uninspiring, plating 13 runs across the six losses. Its pitching, on the other hand, surrendered six runs four times.

But the Commodores had displayed potential before. They powered to an 11-10-1 record midway through the season via eight wins in 12 days. Falmouth’s bats were consistently putting up six-plus runs per game.

They showed that fight late versus Chatham. But early on, it was nowhere to be found.

Chatham starter Duke Stone retired the first six batters in order, headlined by three straight strikeouts of Carl Schmidt, Kent Schmidt and Greger.

With Falmouth’s offense starting slow, its pitching needed to take control. But that’s not what happened initially.

The ‘Dores trotted out Cal Poly’s Laif Palmer, who entered with an 8.18 ERA in four appearances. That included allowing four runs in two innings at Chatham in his ‘Dores debut on July 6.

He started on the right foot on Thursday. In the first, he worked around a Daniel Jackson one-out single, then quelled a two-on, two-out jam his next time out.

But his luck ran out in the third once Chatham’s lineup rolled over. Palmer plunked Jackson Freeman and walked Jackson to open the frame. The Anglers took advantage in a big way. Roman Martin, Isaiah Lane and Trace Mazon all cracked RBI singles, establishing a 3-0 Chatham lead.

With Falmouth’s offensive outburst on Wednesday, the deficit wasn’t insurmountable. By not panicking, something that was present across its losing streak, Falmouth stayed in the game, Moroney said.

“It didn't show for a while, but we're always a relaxed team,” he said. “So that definitely helps, not really putting too much pressure onto everything.”

But that took five innings to take effect.

Stone kept mowing through the Commodores’ lineup, moving past a Moroney third-inning single, Falmouth’s first hit of the game.

Moroney’s knock, his fourth in two games, was Stone’s only blip through the first five innings. He sat down all other 15 batters he faced in that stretch. The ‘Dores went down on 16 pitches across the fourth and fifth, maintaining their three-run deficit.

It looked like Chatham would run away with the game. Instead, Falmouth’s bullpen kept it within striking distance.

The Commodores replaced Palmer with Rhode Island’s Jake Cullen in the fourth, looking for some consistency on the bump. He gave them all the ammunition they needed. Cullen steered Falmouth back on track by tossing clean fourth and fifth innings, allowing just one single to Jackson.

Then, Luc Lavigueur (Rhode Island) took his spot in the sixth and continued the dominance. Lavigueur, fresh off a stint with the New England Collegiate Baseball League’s Ocean State Waves alongside Greger, started his Cape League debut hot. He allowed just a Jake Hanley walk in the sixth, then stranded two runners in scoring position in the seventh.

But the pitching resurgence wouldn’t matter without Falmouth’s offense waking up. Though it took time, that’s exactly what happened.

All of Falmouth’s struggles were erased in just one inning. The Commodores completely flipped the game on its head with its miraculous comeback before Rogan wrapped up the game in the ninth.

Falmouth entered the eighth inning with just a shred of life. But that’s all it needed. And the ‘Dores may have resurrected their season as a result.

“Just based off of where we were a few games ago, it's a pretty nice feeling,” Moroney said.

Noah Nussbaum is the beat reporter for the Falmouth Commodores. You can read all of his articles on the Commodores here.