For the ‘Dores (3-3-1), Saturday was a crucial day. A potential “get right” game, if you will, against the Anglers (3-4) in interdivisional play. A chance for Falmouth to work through the chinks that has hindered it from realizing its full potential as a ball club.
The conditions weren’t compliant with the Commodores, as heavy showers washed away the opportunity for them to battle out a high-scoring affair at Veterans Field, as they saw the game end in a five-inning loss.
After the first nine batters of the contest were all retired in order, Chatham broke through in the scoring column in the bottom of the second. The rally started with a Commodore fielding error, followed by one-out singles from Cooper Neville (Alabama) and Gabe Frazer (Florida State) to score Harlin Hovater (Mississippi State) for the game's first run. A walk then loaded the bases, but Falmouth worked out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts from its starter Aidan Keenan (Stanford). Keenan went on to toss another inning, limiting the damage to the second-inning Chatham score on two hits in his outing.
The ‘Dores and Anglers traded four run innings between the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth.
Two consecutive hit batters, followed by a single, loaded the bases for Kelvyn Paulino Jr. (Florida State), who knocked in two runs with a base hit of his own. Another pair of Angler runs would come across after a throwing error, quintupling their early lead.
The ‘Dores began to fight back in the next frame, starting with a Nick Venteicher (Creighton) single. The next two batters would reach base for Falmouth and its first run came on a Fabio Peralta (Miami) single, scoring Anthony Diaz (formerly New Mexico, in transfer portal).
Its second came courtesy of a wild pitch from Colin Fisher (Arkansas), and a Ty Kaunas (Texas Tech) two-bagger capped the loud response from the Commodores in the fifth.
Unfortunately, it was a tad too late. Chatham added one more in the bottom half of the inning before a downpour of rain forced the umpires to call the game at the completion of five innings.
A trio of unfavorable outcomes has dropped Falmouth to an even .500 on the season. They’ll look to rise above that mark against Wareham on Sunday, June 21, at 6:00 p.m.
