FALMOUTH, Mass. — The Cape Cod Baseball League’s West Division is a logjam. All five teams entered Tuesday within at least three games of one another. Falmouth walked into a home bout with last-place Cotuit in a three-way tie for second with Bourne and Hyannis.
With one of the division’s teams missing the playoffs once the regular season ends on Aug. 3, every win is crucial. The Commodores took advantage of division foes’ losses on Monday with a 5-2 win over Harwich.
But to secure a postseason berth, the ‘Dores needed to string victories together.
Falmouth (13-16-1) had a chance to build its first winning streak since July 4-5 on Tuesday, but it was instead handily defeated by Cotuit (12-16-2), 6-2. The Kettleers exploded out of the gate, tagging ‘Dores starter Jaden Wywoda for four runs across 2 1/3 innings. And their offense only managed one brief outburst, moving them to third in the West.
“To win this league, you’ve got to play solid defense. Can't give away any free 90s. We've got to grind at-bats and pitchers got to pound the strike zone early,” Falmouth manager Jarrod Saltalamacchia said postgame.
Falmouth entered Tuesday’s bout with the Kettleers off its most complete game in a while. Its pitching stunned Harwich through eight innings, not allowing a run until the ninth. Its offense constructed a 3-0 lead and added insurance runs via Bear Harrison (Texas A&M) and Ryan Zuckerman (Georgia Tech) long balls.
That team was unrecognizable on Tuesday. On the mound, Wywoda and Falmouth’s bullpen struggled. Its defense made three errors. And its offense couldn’t muster much of anything.
Wywoda entered off a subpar outing against Brewster, where he allowed five runs in a disastrous third inning. It took even shorter for the Kettleers to punish him on Tuesday.
Cotuit notched at least two baserunners and scored a run in each of the first three innings. Camden Johnson led off the game with an infield single and reached second with two outs. Falmouth’s pitching entered allowing a CCBL-worst .278 average with two outs, and its struggles hurt it again. Caden Bogenpohl roped an RBI double down the right field line to open the scoring.
If the ‘Dores wanted to stay in the game, Wywoda needed to settle in. But he couldn’t even make it through the third. The Kettleers continued to knock him around, making it 4-0 through three.
“It's tough for an offense to go up there when they're behind,” Saltalamacchia said. “So letting up an early lead is not great.”
It didn’t help that his defense wilted. In nearly identical situations, Cotuit pushed the score to 3-0 after new Commodores catcher Mason Eckelman sailed two throws into left field trying to catch Kettleers runners stealing. They finished the third down four due to a Chris Newstrom throwing error on a potential double play.
The mishaps killed the Commodores’ hopes for the time being.
“We’ve just got to make the fundamental plays,” Saltalamacchia emphasized. “Those are more mental mistakes than physical. Routine ground ball, we’ve got to be able to throw it to the guy's chest. We've been doing this game long enough.”
And the ‘Dores’ offense was nowhere to be found to start. The ‘Dores were stifled by Cotuit’s Ryan Buckler, who came in with a 1.84 ERA. Buckler sat them down on six pitches in the first, getting Adrian Lopez and Maika Niu to pop out. He wasn’t as efficient in the ensuing two frames, allowing two runners to reach scoring position, but escaped without any damage.
With its bats declining again, Falmouth’s pitching finally settled in.
After mopping up Wywoda’s mess in the third, Reese Marcum (Gulf Coast State) posted the Commodores' first scoreless inning with a Farber flyout in the fourth. Sacred Heart’s Patrick Rogan, a rare “switch-pitcher,” followed by getting Jack Natili to ground into a double play to close a clean fifth.
The steadiness on the bump briefly sparked Falmouth at the plate. The Commodores finally got to Buckler in the fifth. After Cayden Brumbaugh’s second infield single, Antonio Morales ripped an RBI triple over Nolan Stevens’ head in right. Then, Lopez halved Falmouth’s deficit with an RBI groundout to shortstop.
That newfound life was extinguished almost instantly. Falmouth’s pitching slipped at the worst time.
Rogan allowed back-to-back walks to open the seventh, and Farber bunted the runners over. Saltalamacchia then pulled him, admitting postgame he left him in for too long. Bogenpohl reestablished Cotuit’s four-run advantage, 6-2, with a two-run single through the drawn-in infield.
Saltalamacchia said he’ll need to evaluate if Falmouth’s infielders could’ve got to the ball. But it squeaked through, killing the Commodores’ winning hopes for good.
“Worst-case scenario, (they score) one run instead of two,” Saltalamacchia said. “I think if you kept it to 5-2, we probably have got a shot.”
After Bogenpohl’s knock, Falmouth couldn’t respond after its brief outburst in the fifth.
Tyler Albanese kept the game in the Kettleers’ favor by inducing two lazy flyouts to cruise through the sixth. He kept going strong through the next two frames by notching five straight outs via the strikeout.
He ended his day in style with a clean ninth, ending Falmouth’s winning chances for good.
A victory on Tuesday would’ve secured Falmouth’s position within the division. Instead, all it did was put its playoff chances more in doubt, forcing the Commodores to duke it out in the final quarter of the season.
Noah Nussbaum is the beat reporter for the Falmouth Commodores. You can read all of his articles on the Commodores here.
