YARMOUTH, Mass. – The sun began to set on Red Wilson Field as Riley Stanford (Georgia Tech) closed out the game in the bottom of the eighth for the Falmouth Commodores with a 1-2-3 inning to end the game in a 7-7 tie with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
“Just had to get the job done,” Stanford said. “They’re one of the better teams in the league and especially playing at their park, it was really good to go out there, and I mean we tied, but I felt like we did a good job stopping their offense.”
Y-D struck first with three singles, a walk and two runs to take the lead, 2-0, in the bottom of the first. Commodores starting pitcher Matthew Dallas (Wake Forest) salvaged the inning with two strikeouts and a flyout to hold the Red Sox to two runs.
A rally was ignited by Luke Gaffney (Clemson) with a leadoff single, then Gavin Kilen (Tennessee) reached base on a forceout and Isaiah Barkett (Stetson) snagged a single. Dylan Carey (Nebraska) put up a single and two RBI to tie the game at 2-2 in the top of the second.
Will Tippett (South Carolina) had a response for Falmouth with a solo home run right down center field to give Y-D the lead again, 3-2. The Red Sox extended their lead with an RBI double from Ethan Petry (South Carolina) to put Y-D up 4-2.
The Commodores snagged a pair of singles and a homer off of Red Sox starting pitcher Braden Osbolt (Kennesaw State). Falmouth claimed the lead for the first time with a three-run home run from Kilen to extend to 5-4 in the top of the third.
The middle third of the game was quiet. Y-D broke the silence with a solo homer from Petry to tie the game for the second time, 5-5, in the bottom of the sixth.
Gavin Turley (Oregon State) had a solo home run of his own to give the Commodores the lead again, 6-5, in the top of the seventh. Jayson Jones (Oklahoma State) punched in a run off a wild pitch from Aiven Cabral (Northeastern) to extend to a two-run lead, 7-5.
The Red Sox weren’t out of it yet and tied it at 7-7 with a two-run home run from RJ Austin (Vanderbilt) in the bottom of the seventh. Valek Cisneros (Central Oklahoma) picked up his third strikeout of the inning to close out the seventh, then handed it off to Stanford in the eighth to finish it off for Falmouth.
The Commodores (10-18) will go back home to host the Wareham Gateman (18-10) on Sunday at Guv Fuller Field with the first pitch set for 6 p.m.
Righty Griffin O’Connor (Assumption) is the projected starting pitcher for Wareham. He has a 1.86 ERA and has appeared in 9 2/3 innings this summer. O’Connor is 1-0 and his last start was against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on July 7, when the Gateman went on to win, 7-3.
You can get live game updates on Instagram and X @FalCommodores or tune in to the live television broadcast featuring Aiden Blanc, MJ Newsom and Braden Schenck on YouTube @FalmouthCommodores.
Photo credit: Nate Gardner
