The Hyannis Harbor Hawks never found their footing in a seven-inning, 13-1 loss to the Falmouth Commodores. With this loss and a Cotuit Kettleers win, Hyannis (14-18-4) dropped to fourth place in the West Division, leading Falmouth (14-21-1) by three points with four games left for both teams in the regular season.
“We’re not feeling the pressure, I feel like we’re still in a pretty good spot,” manager Mitch Karraker said. “Tonight, we weren’t ready to go from pitch one, and [the Commodores] smacked us in the mouth early and we just couldn’t recover. I trust our guys, they’re going to show up ready tomorrow. ”
Falmouth sealed this mercy-rule victory in the bottom of the sixth inning, exploding for five runs. After a pair of singles to start the inning by Maika Niu and Antonio Morales, Kent Schmidt walloped a 3-0 pitch deep into the left-center field gap, scoring both runners.
This put the Commodores up, 10-1, but that didn’t slow their bats. A Bear Harrison walk and Adrian Lopez single loaded the bases, leading Reece Moroney to knock in his fifth RBI of the day with a sacrifice fly to right.
Cayden Brumbaugh put the finishing touches on with a single into center that scored Harrison and Lopez. This offensive dominance was present since the beginning of the game for Falmouth.
The home squad first breached the scoreboard in the bottom of the second, finding a flow against Harbor Hawks starter Carson Jasa.
Harrison and Justin Osterhouse both got base hits to start the inning, leading Lopez to ground into a fielder's choice that split runners on the corners. With the first run of the game 90 feet away, Moroney chopped a soft grounder toward third base.
Myles Davis charged the bounding ball, bobbling the barehanded attempt and scoring Harrison as all runners reached safely.
After a double steal by Lopez and Moroney, Brumbaugh knocked both runners over with a groundout, scoring one. Moroney then took advantage of a wild pitch by Jasa as the ball skipped to the backstop, scoring the home team’s third run of the inning.
The game truly unraveled for Hyannis in the third inning, starting with a moonshot by Niu into left field that encapsulated the Commodores’ offensive dominance in one swing.
After that blast, every at-bat for Falmouth seemed to help it produce runs. After a Morales walk, a groundout and wild pitch put him in position to score on a sacrifice fly by Harrison.
Even with two outs, the hosts’ bats didn’t cool down. Osterhouse got on with a single on a fiery grounder toward third base, a play nearly made by Davis as he dove for the worm-burner but couldn’t make the throw on time or on target.
Three pitches later, the Commodores left fielder took off for second, having the ball deflect off him on the throwdown, giving him another free 90 feet. Lopez also moved into scoring position with a walk and steal, setting up Moroney for a two-RBI single into right.
By this point, there was no doubt Falmouth had complete control of the game’s momentum on both sides.
“[The Commodores] did everything well,” Karraker said. “They pitched better, they played better defense, they hit all over the field.”
Jeremy Urena led Falmouth’s pitching staff with a strong start, going four innings while allowing one hit and no walks. The right-hander picked up his first win of the summer thanks to early offensive support.
Everett Garber followed out of the bullpen, earning a save in three innings while also allowing just one hit in his outing.
The Harbor Hawks scored their only run against Garber in the top of the sixth on a sacrifice fly by Jake Schaffner. Sawyer Black scored the run after drawing a walk and advancing to third on a groundout and wild pitch.
For its final game of the month, Hyannis looks to rekindle offensive momentum against the Bourne Braves on Thursday at 6 p.m. in McKeon Park.
Tym Brown can be reached at ***tymbrown12@gmail.com\** and followed on X @tym_brown1.*
