FALMOUTH, Mass. - Thursday unofficially marked the start of a new era for the Falmouth Commodores. With former Boston Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia becoming the ‘Dores’ field manager, Falmouth has a new leader for the first time in over a half century.

Saltalamacchia’s first duty as manager was constructing the Commodores’ 2025 roster. With only one returning player (Matthew Dallas, Wake Forest), plenty more new faces will grace Guv Fuller Field’s grass when the season officially begins Saturday at Chatham.

But the ‘Dores’ players needed to develop chemistry before that matchup. And they did just that with Thursday’s three-team scrimmage versus the Bourne Braves and Wareham Gatemen.

Here are some observations from Falmouth’s scrimmage Thursday at the Guv:

Pitching staff shows improvement

Last season, the ‘Dores’ pitching staff wasn’t one of their strengths. Falmouth finished ninth of 10 Cape Cod League teams with a 5.20 ERA. So, only time would tell if its 2025 unit would fare better under Saltalamacchia.

On Thursday, it showed improvement from last season, including surrendering just two runs across its first five pitchers.

Central Florida’s Matt Sauser — who posted a 4.58 ERA this season with the Knights — started the game strong. Despite hitting Wareham’s first batter and allowing a line-drive single to left, Sauser struck out the Gatemen's fifth batter to end the threat.

Jack Berg, who recently entered the transfer portal from Arizona, took the mound in the second for Falmouth and impressed, punching out two Wareham batters. Then in the third, Joe Sabbath (Rhode Island) took Berg’s place. He ended the shutout by allowing a two-run, opposite-field homer but settled in soon after to keep the damage to two.

Nebraska’s TJ Coats put the Commodores back on track in the fourth. The righthander induced three straight groundouts to turn the ball back over to Falmouth’s batters.

Deven Sheerin — pitching in a game for the first time since tearing his ACL last summer — continued that trend with a second straight 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. All of Falmouth’s staff continued to pitch throughout the rest of the day, capping its strong showing.

‘Dores’ offense shines

The Commodores’ offense includes players from all over the country, including mid-major programs and some of the best in the nation. But it remained to be seen how they’d produce with Falmouth. On Thursday, they flexed their muscles often.

In the first inning against Bourne, the ‘Dores showed signs of breaking through. California’s Carl Schmidt roped a single up the middle, then Adrian Lopez did the same with a blooper to right. Though Falmouth failed to score, it provided a promising start.

And that continued immediately into the second. South Alabama’s John Smith III crushed a solo homer to left-center field to open the day’s scoring. Smith is one of the most consistent players on the team, hitting over .260 in all three collegiate seasons thus far.

Falmouth built on the first and second innings for its best frame of the day in the third. Ben Royo drilled a leadoff home run to left field. Then, the Commodores created traffic on the bases, leading to a three-run inning to push them to four on the day.

The fourth inning was more of the same, with the ‘Dores pushing across two more runs via a wild pitch that scored Schmidt and a sac fly from Kyle Morrison (South Alabama).

Though the fifth and sixth innings saw the Commodores score just one run on another wild pitch, they bounced back with three more runs in the seventh. The burst was powered by a two-run double by Harrison.

The ‘Dores’ showing provided hope for the upcoming season. They made their mark with 10 runs across the first seven innings of action.

Falmouth displays power early

Falmouth has numerous players on its roster that have flashed consistent power in college after finishing seventh in the CCBL with 27 homers last year. On Thursday, while facing Wareham, they showed potential in the power department.

Smith got the home run party started with his solo homer to open the second inning. His longball marked the first run by any team to that point.

In two years at Pensacola State, Smith impressed, including a 382/.452/.688 slashline as a sophomore. He continued that success last year after transferring to the Jaguars, hitting .315 with 15 extra-base hits.

The next ‘Dore to go deep was Texas A&M’s Royo. Mirroring Smith’s shot in the second, Royo led off the third with his moon shot over the left-field fence. The Aggie played his first season at College Station in 2025 after starting his career at Rice. He belted 10 homers in 44 games this year.

Though the Commodores didn’t hit one out again on Thursday, Smith and Royo’s homers powered their offensive explosion.