Falmouth (14-16-2) continues to grind out wins at the most important time of the season.
On Wednesday, hitting coach Beau McMillan described the ‘Dores’ 10-4 victory over Chatham (11-17-3) as “gritty”. Thursday’s 2-1 win might fit that description even better.
Through the first seven innings, the bats were hot. Falmouth would end its night with double digits in the hit column for the second consecutive night. Despite that, the Commodores weren’t able to capitalize on the opportunities they were afforded.
That was Falmouth’s best trio of sluggers began hammering base hits in the top of the eighth. Brayden Jefferis (Michigan), Carter White (Mississippi State) and Tommy Harrison (Miami (OH)) combined to bring home the first run of the ballgame for Falmouth.
“I was just doing my job, coming in and controlling what I can control,” said Harrison on his clutch single to score Jefferis. “It was just a good spot to be in. The competitiveness is what you want.”
Harrison has been an all-around hitter, as coaches would describe one, since his arrival to the Cape. The MAC Player of the Year has four hits in as many appearances in a Commodore uniform with a .933 OPS.
“[I’m] just doing what I can do to help the team win every night,” said Harrison on his early success. “If I get a chance to help the team win, [I’ll] help the team win…playing with new teammates is fun. You see how guys tick, you see how they work and good players stick out. There's a bunch of good players on Falmouth. ”
Matthew Farner (North Florida) followed up with a sacrifice fly to score White in the inning – his first RBI of the Cape League season and the decisive run in the win.
All the Falmouth staff needed was the eighth inning from its offense to come out the victor. Yet again, four of its arms combined for another masterclass. Angler tendencies were fresh in the mind of pitching coach Paul Evans, as he said “when you play somebody back-to-back nights, you get a pretty good idea of how to pitch them.”
The night started with five innings of scoreless one-hit ball from Chirstian Aiello (Jacksonville State).
Evans was the first to give Aiello his props, as he’s yet to allow a run through his first 10.1 innings for the ‘Dores. “[He] was really good in his initial start at Cotuit and he did the same thing again tonight,” he said.
He was followed by Gamecock teammate Fisher Cantrell, who tossed a perfect inning and a third before Kaniel Rosado (UCF) entered in the middle of the seventh to work Falmouth out of a jam. He’d allow the sole Angler run – a sac fly from West Virginia’s Armani Guzman – but with the tying run on first, induced a ground ball that turned into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.
“Kaniel hadn't pitched in a while, but he really stood up and got some humongous outs there in the seventh and eighth,” Coach Evans said after the game.
J.R. Struk (Gardner-Webb) shut the door in the ninth in a bounce-back appearance to lock down his first save of the season, and in the words of his coaches, "That's what he gets paid for.”
The ‘Dores remain tied for second in the West Division, as Friday’s game against Hyannis grows more and more pivotal. The winner of the contest takes sole possession of that spot, which would warrant home field advantage in the first round of the playoffs at season’s end. Soon after, they’ll travel to Wareham – a team amidst a crunch-time surge for the final spot in the CCBL playoffs, just two points behind Cotuit.
“Those are going to be big games in the division as far as trying to get the best seed that we can…we want to do a good job, I think, through the end of next week, and then we're going to have a pretty good idea of where we're at.”
First pitch at McKeon Field is set for 6:00 p.m.
