HYANNIS, Mass. — The sentiment has held constant among Bourne’s players throughout the team’s 2-5-1 start to the 2024 summer.

There is an undeniable level of talent in the Braves’ dugout. Adjustments will be made, the bats will eventually heat up. It’s only a matter of time.

“I feel like it’s still maybe [an] adjusting period with that bats and stuff,” infielder Braden Holcomb (Vanderbilt) said following the Braves' 8-1 loss to Yarmouth-Dennis yesterday. “But we’re going to adjust, we have good hitters, we have the hitters to do it. So it’s not going to be a problem in my opinion, next few games I feel like we’re going to come out hot.”

Bourne (3-5-1) certainly came out hot on Monday, drawing first blood in the second inning and totaling ten hits in a dominant 6-2 victory over Hyannis (5-3), handing the Harbor Hawks their first loss at home.

“I think it was an all-around good game,” field manager Scott Landers said. “Offensively, we stranded some runners in the early innings. But we didn’t take it at-bat to at-bat later in games. They did what we talked about earlier in the day at early work and executed when they needed to on the mound. We didn’t have the walks that we’ve had the last couple games, and we played flawless defense.”

After a scoreless first inning, Bourne’s offense got going in the second. The Braves loaded the bases — via three singles — for outfielder Davis Gillespie (Southern Mississippi), who grounded into a 6-4 double play to drive in infielder Jack Penney (Notre Dame).

By the fourth frame, Bourne already matched their total hits from Sunday with four. But they weren’t finished yet. Leading off the fifth inning, outfielder Chris Stanfield (LSU) sent the first pitch he saw sailing 386 feet over the left-field fence. The solo shot was Bourne’s second home run of the season.

“It felt amazing,” Stanfield said. “Early in the game, they [were] sending me a lot of sliders, a lot of off-speed. I went up there with the same approach, and I just saw the slider early. Put a good swing on it. I was thankful it was able to fly out of here.”

Bourne remained ahead for the first four innings thanks to a strong start from Donovan Zsak (Rutgers). The southpaw struck out four, allowed two baserunners and only one walk, passing the torch to his relievers with Hyannis still searching for its first run.

While right-hander Tyler Fay (Alabama) let up two runs, he ultimately ate three innings and kept Bourne’s lead intact. Lefty Joe Ariola (Wake Forest) entered the game in the eighth and was exceptional through 1 2/3 frames, allowing only two hits and striking out one.

“[Hyannis] got the one run in the [fifth], but they still had second and third. And we shut it down and minimized in that position, at that moment in time when it was 2-1 and we needed that. And then we tacked on it. So that’s a momentum thing for us, that we can minimize and then come back and score some runs.”

Outfielder Ethan Conrad (Wake Forest) made an instant impact playing in his first game as a Brave against Hyannis. Catcher Matthew Graveline (Ohio State) and infielder Clay Grady (Virginia Tech) walked before Stanfield picked up his second hit of the night — a single into right — to set the table for the Wake Forest commit.

Conrad didn’t disappoint, lining a two-run single into left field to increase the Braves’ lead to 4-1. A perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Penney capped off a three-run inning for Bourne. The outfielder struck again an inning later with an RBI double, sealing the victory.

“The [Cape League’s] pitching is definitely a little better,” Conrad said. “But I think just staying calm and remembering it’s just baseball, and then you’ll have success. Stay calm and be focused, and that’s all I did tonight.”

Pivotal Sequence

Bourne’s offense didn’t take long to break the scoreless tie on Monday — only one inning to be exact. Penney kicked off the frame by lining a single into center field before Holcomb and infielder Camden Kozeal (Vanderbilt) picked up their own singles.

While Gillespie hit into a double play, which put the Braves in a difficult position with a runner on third, he got the Braves on the board.

“We had the bases loaded, no outs, we only came away with one run right there,” Landers said. “We hit into a double play, but at least [Gillespie] was swinging]... We got one, took the lead and kind of never looked back.”

Hitter of the Game — Chris Stanfield

Stanfield came into Monday’s game on a bit of a dry spell, as he was hitless in his past two games. However, that quickly changed.

Stanfield mashed his first home run of the season, a moonshot into left-center field, and struck again in the seventh. The Florida native fouled on a bunt attempt and then took strike two, but battled back to a 2-2 count. After fouling on a pitch high in the zone, Stanfield lined a single into right field for his second hit of the day.

Pitcher of the Game — Donovan Zsak

Zsak’s first outing of the summer was a mixed bag.

The lefty struck out a whopping eight batters against the Chatham Anglers on June 17, but struggled with command, walking five hitters in 3 1/3 innings.

But Monday proved to be a much different experience for Zsak. In four innings, he fanned four Harbor Hawks and walked only one. Zsak’s fastball was electric, topping out at 98 mph, and he faced minimal issues in a dominant start.

“Sometimes I have to take a little bit off of [my fastball] just to throw it over,” Zsak said. “[The] biggest thing for me is just getting ahead. When I’m ahead, I’m really hard to hit.”

A Look Ahead

Monday’s win was much-needed for Bourne to remain in fourth place in the Cape Cod Baseball League’s West Division, as it is now two games up on the Falmouth Commodores, who enjoyed an off day. The Braves return to Doran Park tomorrow to host the Whitecaps looking to avenge their 4-3 loss at Brewster last Sunday.

The result was also notable for Hyannis — the Harbor Hawks missed out on an opportunity to tie the Wareham Gatemen for first place in the West.

Right-handed pitcher Matt McShane (St. Joseph’s) is in line to start for the Bravos tomorrow against Brewster. McShane posted a 3.95 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, and 57 strikeouts in 43.1 innings, and conceded four earned runs while tossing three strikeouts in a 2.2-inning start.

McShane will take on righty Luke Guth (Vanderbilt). In 18.1 innings on the mound as a true freshman, Guth fanned 20 and pitched to a 5.40 ERA while walking nine.

First pitch at Doran Park will be at 6 p.m. ET.

Notes

Holcomb has the third-most hits in the CCBL with 11… With seven knocks in five games, Gillespie has recorded a hit in every contest he’s appeared in this season… Conrad recorded three RBI in his season debut, and is now tied for second on the Braves for runs driven in… Zsak and lefty Connor Wietgrefe (Minnesota) are tied for the second-most individual strikeouts on the Cape… With a knock on Monday, Penney has two hits in his last two games… Bourne has struck out the second-most hitters (91) in the league… The Braves have the second-most stolen bases in the CCBL with 17… Drawing three walks against Hyannis, infielder Marek Houston (Wake Forest) now has the highest on-base percentage (.556) in the league.