BOURNE, Mass. — In what looked like it would be a blowout early on, the Bourne Braves fought until the last out in their 8-7 loss to the Hyannis Harbor Hawks on Wednesday night.
The game was a tale of two halves. The first was dominated by Hyannis. With RHP Noah Scott (Oregon State) on the mound for Bourne, the Harbor Hawks’ offense got off to a lightning-quick start. Hyannis picked up three hits and three walks in the first inning, giving them a 4-0 lead.
The bats didn’t cool down much after the first. Hyannis led off the second inning with a triple, and rallied to score two runs in the frame. In the third, Harbor Hawks’ slugger Henry Zenor (USC Upstate) started the inning with his second home run of the summer. After a walk and a pair of hits, Hyannis scored their second run of the third and extended their lead to 8-0.
That was all the visitors could muster on offense for the game. Hyannis would go scoreless in the final six innings, with Braves’ relievers RHP Nick Robert (Miami) and RHP Jackson Kircher (Arkansas) both giving shutout appearances from the bullpen to close out the game.
“We settled in, and our guys kept us in it,” said Field Manager Scott Landers about the bullpen’s performance. “We fell a little short at the end, but we didn’t quit.”
As the Bourne pen kept Hyannis quiet, the Braves’ bats began to wake up. Still down 8-0 entering the bottom of the seventh, the Bravos led the inning off with three straight baserunners. Their first run of the game would come from a bases-loaded walk, but the Braves took that momentum and continued to rally. Bourne drew two more bases-loaded walks, and added runs on a wild pitch and sacrifice fly. By the time Hyannis escaped the frame, the Braves were only trailing 8-5.
“I don’t think we were on the barrel too much tonight in our at-bats,” said Landers about the comeback attempt. “But they battled and grinded and didn’t quit.”
The Braves continued their rally in the bottom of the eighth. Still down three, second baseman Blake Schaaf (Wake Forest) got the offense rolling again with his third triple of the year. He would come in to score on a wild pitch that walked shortstop Rustan Rigdon (Vanderbilt) to cut the Harbor Hawks lead to two. After reaching on the walk, Rigdon would find his way around the basepath and score on a balk. When the eighth ended, Bourne had made it a one-run game.
In the ninth, Bourne couldn’t recreate the magic of the past two innings. Despite pinch-hitting Andrew Costello, one of the best hitters in the Cape this season, the Braves went down in order to extinguish the hope of a comeback win.
WHAT IT MEANS
With the loss, Bourne falls to below .500 on the season. Despite this the Braves continue to sit in first place of the West Division, just one point ahead of the Harbor Hawks. Bourne will look to keep their top spot in a matchup with Wareham after the off day.
BOURNEBRAVES.ORG PLAYER OF THE GAME
Blake Schaaf is tonight’s Player of the Game. In the loss, Schaaf went 2-for-4 with a walk from the Braves’ leadoff spot. He also hit his third triple of the year, putting him in a tie with teammate Matt Bolton (Binghamton) for the most triples by a player in the CCBL this summer.
NEXT UP
The Braves have an off day tomorrow, which they will spend at Fenway Park for a scouting combine. Bourne’s next game will come Friday when they travel to Wareham to take on the Gatemen for the first time this season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. ET.
