FALMOUTH, Mass. — With eight games left in the Cape Cod Baseball League regular season, the West Division sat in limbo — Wareham squarely in first place and Bourne, Cotuit and Hyannis all one point apart between second and fourth.

In dreaded last place? The Falmouth Commodores.

But Falmouth manager Jarrod Saltalamacchia wasn’t going to stay put. He arranged a Slip ‘N Slide for the players to enjoy pregame, keeping the mood light.

It seemed to work, as players were in good spirits during batting practice. Kent Schmidt rocked one of Edward Yamin’s custom headbands, while Maika Niu took hacks without batting gloves or protective gear simply for the fun of it.

The upbeat tone didn’t translate to the game, though. Falmouth (13-19-1) was blanked by Wareham (18-15-0), 3-0, marking the ‘Dores’ fourth straight loss. The Commodores were stifled by Gatemen starter Josh Butler, who allowed just one hit across six scoreless innings. The defeat puts the Commodores in an even more dire spot, as they still stand two points away from a playoff spot.

Wareham proved to be tough to crack from the get-go. The Gatemen entered as one of the hottest teams in the league, winning 11 of their last 14 games. That included a 12-3 drubbing of Falmouth on July 13, when they boat raced the Commodores with nine runs in the second and third innings.

Though Saturday featured less offense, it ended with the same result.

On the mound, Saltalamacchia pushed another new button. Stanford’s Toran O’Harran made his first start with the Commodores, coming off a 7.27 ERA with the Cardinal in 2025.

He started his debut on the right foot. O’Harran snuffed out both of Wareham’s rallies in the first two frames. Despite Colby Turner reaching on a Ryan Zuckerman error in the first, O’Harran stranded him at second. The Gatemen also left Chase Krewson at third with two outs next time up.

But Zuckerman’s miscue foreshadowed more struggles. In the third, Wareham struck first via two Falmouth errors, its 10th and 11th in the last four games. First, Brayden Randle doubled and reached third after Niu kicked the ball away in center. He later scored after shortstop Adrian Lopez sailed a ball high to first.

That was all the momentum Wareham needed. O’Harran walked in a run before being replaced by Reese Marcum (Gulf Coast State). He quelled the threat, but not before Hayden Yost made it 3-0 with an RBI single.

The Commodores needed their offense to respond. The unit’s firepower had been bottled since six six-plus run games in early July. After failing to score a single earned run in Friday’s 5-2 loss to Brewster, that trend continued on Saturday.

Wareham starter Josh Butler didn’t allow a baserunner until Antonio Morales’ leadoff single in the fourth. Butler didn’t strike anyone out, but he induced a plethora of weak contact. That included easy groundouts to shortstop and pop outs by star hitters Carl Schmidt and Niu — still sporting no accessories at the plate.

After Morales’ single, Butler continued to deal. He retired the next nine batters he faced, keeping Falmouth off the board. After Morales reached second following his knock, he sat down both Niu and Kent Schmidt before throwing nine pitches in a flawless fifth.

For the first time this season, Falmouth let an opposing pitcher work through the sixth inning. Butler sat down both Tristan Salinas and Justin Osterhouse looking to conclude his phenomenal performance on 60 pitches.

Though Falmouth’s offense was stalled, its pitching staff gave it a chance to claw back.

After Marcum finished his day with a 1-2-3 fourth, Jacob Dorn (Miami) took over. In his first outing as a ‘Dore, he allowed one hit and three walks through four innings but kept the score at 3-0. He got Yost and McHugh to pop out with two runners in scoring position in the fifth and another two at the corners in the sixth, respectively.

Dorn finished his debut by getting Christopher Ramirez to ground into a double play to end the seventh and retiring all three batters in the eighth.

The Commodores had the ammunition to strike. But even replacing Butler didn’t kick-start their bats.

Though Carl Schmidt singled and Zuckerman walked in the seventh — just Falmouth’s second and third baserunners of the game — reliever Lazaro Collera got Lopez to chase to extinguish the threat.

With six outs left, Saltalamacchia threw everything at the wall. Nothing stuck. He used both Bear Harrison and Cayden Brumbaugh as pinch-hitters, and though Brumbaugh singled, it didn’t amount to anything.

TJ Schlageter and Tony Pluta, who both entered with ERAs under 1.00, continued their stellar seasons with two scoreless frames to hand the ‘Dores a crushing loss.

Saltalamacchia’s late adjustments were part of a litany of things he tried to rid Falmouth of its woes. Its mood was at an all-time high pregame. But nothing seemed to work, as the Commodores continued to plummet with their shutout loss to Wareham.

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