BOURNE, Mass. – As the crowd at Doran Park began to clap, Jayson Jones (Oklahoma State) was at a full count. Zach Crotchfelt (Auburn) threw his final pitch to get Jones to swing and strike out to give the Bourne Braves a 7-2 victory over the Falmouth Commodores on Sunday.
Falmouth soiled its early movement of loading the bases in the top of the first. Gavin Turley (Oregon State) picked up the second consecutive walk to walk in a run from Jaxon Willits (Oklahoma) to give the Commodores an early 1-0 advantage.
Bourne matched Falmouth in the bottom of the first picking up a run off a groundout at first, but Commodore starting pitcher Parker Coil (Arkansas) got the crucial strikeout to cut the Braves' time at bat off.
The second inning was a pitchers' duel going three up, three down. The third and fourth innings followed with two hits, but no runs left the score at an even playing field of 1-1.
The top of the fourth saw a single from Karson Bowen (TCU), but Tucker Novotny (Minnesota) picked up a strikeout on Donovan LaSalle (Oklahoma State) to make it three outs. Falmouth’s defense backed up Coil’s strikeout with a groundout and a flyout in the bottom of the fourth.
Scoring troubles continued until the bottom of the sixth when Davis Gillespie (Southern Mississippi) doubled it to give Bourne a 3-1 lead. The Braves furthered their lead off a single from Chris Stanfield (Auburn) to stretch their lead to 5-1.
Riley Stanford (Georgia Tech) gave up four hits and four runs in the bottom of the sixth while on the mound. The Commodores needed to respond to Bourne’s momentum, but the Braves kept rolling in the bottom of the seventh, snagging a run off Stanford’s reliever Bowen Baker (Fairfield).
Bourne punched in a final run to make it 7-1 going into the top of the eighth. Falmouth mustered up a small rally in the top of the eighth to put up a run off a single from Gavin Kilen (Tennesee) to sit at 7-2.
The Commodores (6-13) will return home to host the Orleans Firebirds (5-14) on Monday at Guv Fuller Field with the first pitch set for 6 p.m.
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
