On Monday morning, the Falmouth Commodores (2-1) woke up as one of three undefeated teams in the Cape Cod League. They’d encounter one of the other two squads who shared that distinction in the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (3-0) in a low-scoring, scrappy ballgame.

Ultimately, the wind blew Y-D’s way in the clutch, as they overcame a shutdown Commodore staff to grind out a 3-2 comeback victory.

Falmouth’s offense had an off day, leaving nine runners on base and striking out 14 times. But the brightest spot on the lineup card was Gavin Greger (Rutgers), who found himself in the zone, recording three base knocks in his five at-bats against the Red Sox.

What’s helped Greger to a quality start? “A lot of work with the coaches in pregame and just sticking to a plan,” he says. “You stick to your plan, and it all works out.”

Trouble came calling early for both starters on Monday afternoon, as both offenses placed runners in scoring positions in the first. Greger’s one-out single, followed by a pair of walks drawn by Riley Jackson (Houston) and Ben Slanker (Louisville), loaded the bases for the ‘Dores with two outs. Nonetheless, Red Sox starter Nate Isler (Dartmouth) found his rhythm and froze J.J. Kennett (Baylor) with a fastball painted on the outside corner to escape the jam.

On the flip side, an Ethan Ball (Virginia Tech) base hit and Jake Sauders (Mississippi State) walk put runners on the corners for Brock Ketelsen (Stanford). Reagan Ricken (LSU) displayed his own cold-blooded demeanor as he got Y-D’s five-hole batter to beat a pitch into the dirt for the third out of the inning.

After a scoreless second from Isler, the Red Sox broke into the scoring column with a two-out rally in the bottom half of the inning. A Brady Dallimore (TCU) double into the left-center gap set the table for an RBI single from leadoff batter John Beverly (Auburn), making it 1-0 Y-D.

The early run didn’t do much to deter Ricken, as he’d punch out three of the next four batters he faced to end his outing.

Sachem Ramos continued to contribute to an extremely strong start of the ‘26 season for the Falmouth pitching staff by retiring the first eight batters he faced in his three scoreless innings of relief. A two-seam fastball with arm-side run, combined with a runaway slider, had the Red Sox lineup struggling to make solid contact in a nearly perfect middle three innings for the incoming UCF transfer.

Greger had some high praise for his pitchers, who kept the ‘Dores within striking distance all game, saying “they keep doing what they're doing and we're gonna be just fine. They're gonna keep us in a really good spot.”

Down to their final 12 outs, the ‘Dores found their breakthrough in the form of a two-run bomb off the bat of Anthony Diaz (formerly New Mexico, in transfer portal), who’d been taking some time to heat up at the beginning of the season. He jumped on a first-pitch fastball and launched his first homer of the Cape League season over the left-field fence.

For Diaz, who’d struck out twice previously, the mid-game adjustment was “shifting my sights more towards right-center…[I just tried] to get the bat out there a little bit more and let my swing do its thing.”

With a brand-new one-run lead, flamethrower Jack Bauer came out of the bullpen for the Commodores in his first appearance of the season. He worked around two Red Sox base hits to keep the Falmouth advantage intact in the seventh inning.

However, the eighth would contradict the previous frame. Bell and Ketelsen reached base after smacking line drives into the outfield, leaving it to Tommy Goodin (Vanderbilt) to fire a two-run single of his own into right field, giving Y-D a 3-2 lead in the eighth.

Andrew Wright (Cal State Fullerton), who’d already recorded 2.2 innings of relief down the stretch, reemerged from the Red Sox dugout to finish the job for them with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth to lock down his first win of the season, as Falmouth suffered its first setback of the year.

How does the offense bounce back? By continuing to compete, accroding to Diaz.

“The result isn't there right now, but we stick to the course, stay with our approach. [It’s] felt like I've known [these guys] for a lot longer [than a couple days], and they seem like great competitors, so we're gonna battle, and eventually those strikeout numbers are gonna go down and we're gonna start barrelling balls up with two strikes.”

The Commodores will look to get right after their first loss of 2026 in an Opening Day rematch against Orleans on Tuesday, June 16. First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.