After taking a slim 4-3 victory against Chatham at home, the ‘Dores (5-5-1) took to the western end of the Cape to face off against the Gatemen (3-8) of Wareham on Friday night.
It was a true showcase of shutdown arms at Spillane Field, but with an eighth inning four-run rally, the Gateman snuck past the Commodores, compressing the West Division standings.
The Commodores’ bats were completely nullified by Garrett Lambert (Alabama) at the start of the contest, as the right hander started his outing with six straight strikeouts, courtesy of an A+ fastball with glove-side run.
Jimmy Nugent (Louisville) broke the streak with a solo homer over the left-field fence to open the scoring. He recalls taking note of the fastball as Lambert went six up, six down through the first two innings.
“The guy had like a good heater, he was punching a lot of people out on the heater, not too much breaking ball, so I was sitting heater for the most part,” he said. “I got a few breaking balls early, and I got a cutter kind of in on [the hands] that I could handle, and I was a little bit ahead of it, but it was something I could hit…that's the advantage of being lower in the lineup – you get to see at-bats and see how [the starter] pitches.”
While the ‘Dores struggled to put the ball in play, Aidan Donovan (Michigan State) pieced together a stellar second start to rival Lambert. He’d work around a leadoff single in the first and a pair of hard-hit baseballs in the bottom of the second to keep Wareham off the board through his first five innings.
“It just comes down to staying executing with your pitches,” for Donovan, as he put it after his start. “I never really felt like I was in trouble at any point in the game, because I felt like the whole time I had them off balance…being able to mix and match gave me confidence.”
A lot of that confidence came from an outstanding defense that made silky-smooth play after play to keep runners out of scoring position, allowing Donovan to stay in attack mode. “These dudes are all awesome, they're here for a reason. Having those guys back there gives you a whole lot more confidence attacking the zone,” he said.
Falmouth doubled its lead in the bottom of the fifth by playing the small ball game: a double from Nugent, a groundout from Carl Schmidt (Cal) to advance him and a sacrifice bunt from Pearson Riebock (Baylor) in succession made the score 2-0 ‘Dores.
Scrappy offense continues to be the generator for the offense when the Commodores find themselves in funks, and that was the case in the fifth. “It's baseball. It's trying to scratch across a run way you can,” Nugent said after the game. “That was huge for us. Pierce getting that bunt down was awesome.”
From there, Owen Slater (Missouri State) kept the Commodores ahead in his first appearance for Falmouth, retiring six of the first seven batters he’d face. However, the Gatemen found their breakthrough in the top of the eighth, starting with a base hit from R.J. Hamilton (Duke) followed by an RBI double from Levi Clark (Tennessee) to cut the deficit to one.
Jack Dahm made the call to the bullpen for Logan Pikur (Michigan State), one of two Commodores who’s established himself as a true closer for the pitching staff to rely on. But the Spartan didn’t have his best on Friday night, as a walk to Tony Lira (Arizona) set the table for a go-ahead three-run homer off the bat of Coen Niclai (Arizona State).
Niclai’s third homer of the season was the dagger, as Falmouth went down 1-2-3 in the ninth and took the loss, 4-2.
Despite another deflating loss in the Commodores’ up-and-down season, Friday night proved that Falmouth is more than capable of battling for a Cape League championship, as it consistently finds ways to put pressure on its opponents. “We can play, and we can hang with all the teams in this league,” said Nugent. Stuff happens sometimes. I'm excited to see Pikur next time out and he’s gonna shove.”
The ‘Dores fall to second in the West Division with the Orleans Firebirds next up on the calendar. First pitch on Saturday, June 27 is set for 6:35 p.m.
