For the third time this month, the ‘Dores (12-16-2) have won back-to-back games.
This win, however, might be the hardest-fought victory yet.
In a whirlwind of rain and lightning, Casen Murphy (Louisville) and the Falmouth defense was forced out its dugout in the eighth inning to finish an extremely competitive pitcher’s duel. After a bit of reasoning from Harwich manager Steve Englert amidst a rain delay, the Mariners (17-13) kept their right to have the last say in a 2-0 ballgame before the contest was called – especially after a Tucker Stockman (Southern Miss) single to lead off the inning brought the tying run to the dish before the break in the action.
A reluctant Jack Dahm was left with no choice but to nod his head and trot out his star reliever to finish the job.
The rules are the rules.
And the umpires’ ruling was as such: the eighth would be the last.
To the naked eye, that seemed like “best case scenario” for Falmouth. A strikeout preceded the downpour that forced both teams off the field. All it needed was two outs. That’s it.
It wasn't as simple as it sounded.
Immediately upon resumption, Colin Larson (Boston College) dribbled a double-play ball to the shortstop Drew Terpins (Mount Mercy). Surely, this contest was over.
Until Terpins’ cleat caught the slick infield grass.
One slip, and Harwich had runners on the corners with the heart of its order coming up, just as the torrential shower reached its crescendo.
All you could think as a Commodore fan is “oh no.”
Six pitches later, all you could think was “ oh yes!”
Murphy buckled down, sunk his left cleat into the dampened clay of the Whitehouse Field mound, and used the elements to his advantage: carving up Niko Brini (Vanderbilt) and Nate Castellon (Cal Poly) with his running fastball and sharp curveball to induce a popout and a swinging strikeout to end it.
Falmouth’s 12th win of the year was unlike anything that it had seen in a long, long time, but the journey to the climax felt quite similar.
It started with Logan Pikur’s (Michigan State) best showing of the season: six innings of one-hit ball. He only struck out three batters, but overpowered Harwich with an electric fastball with some extra mustard on it, as it creeped into 95 mile-per-hour territory.
Brayden Bergman (Auburn) followed with a clean seventh inning before Murphy’s eighth in a two-hit effort from the Commodore staff.
On the flip side, Falmouth’s lineup pieced together five base knocks to scratch across the pair of runs it needed for the win. Jeff Lougee (Northwestern) and Mark Gialluisi (Villanova) found the first two of the game for the Commodores in the third inning, leading to an RBI for Fabio Peralta (Miami) on a 4-6 fielder’s choice. Another pair in the sixth – a double from Peralta and a triple from Brayden Jefferis (Michigan) – gave them their second score.
Overall, Tuesday afternoon was an all-around team effort – and it needed to be. At the drop of a dime, the start time was shifted up nearly three hours to evade the incoming rain. All nine starters and the pitching staff needed to dig deep for a win against a championship contender, and that’s exactly what happened.
Despite that, the weather refuses to relent, and the ‘Dores and Chatham Anglers will need to deal with similar conditions on Wednesday. First pitch is tentatively set for 6:00 p.m.
