Different day, same result for the Falmouth Commodores (3-1) against the Orleans Firebirds (1-3) at home.
The ‘Dores have seemed to gel seamlessly just four games into the contest, as they’re playing extremely strong, interconnected baseball that rewards the good deeds of its pitching staff by creating and capitalizing on offensive opportunities.
In the victory, Falmouth made good on its late-game chances, which ended up being the difference between both squads on Tuesday.
“We talk about moving the baseball with guys in scoring position,” said hitting coach Beau McMillan.”Playing the game, [not giving] in, [not going] down swinging, [not going] down chasing, getting to the next pitch…they've been battling.. [They’re] just a really good group of guys that have a really high baseball IQ.”
The first five innings were all Commodores: a continuation of smart pitching, combined with quality at-bats, gave Falmouth a 2-0 lead.
Commodore starter Ryan Castillo came out dealing, opening his outing with a sharp breaking ball to strike out Zach Jackson (Virginia). He’d later blow a fastball by Nate Savoie to cap a 1-2-3 inning. In the bottom half of the first, consecutive singles from Fabio Peralta (Miami) and Gavin Greger (Rutgers) gave Falmouth a runner on third with one out. Peralta would scoot across home following a wild pitch from Matthew Cuccias (formerly Wichita State, in transfer portal).
In the second, the ‘Dores’ defense worked itself out of a hole after allowing the first two batters of the inning to reach base. Castillo induced a ground ball that turned into a 5-4-3 double play before handling a sharp chopper to retire the side, stranding a runner on third in the process. He’d pitch one more scoreless frame, cruising through his three innings of one-hit ball.
A Ty Kaunas (Texas Tech) walk, a J.D. Stein (Wake Forest) error and a Pearson Riebock (Baylor) sacrifice fly set the table for an Austin Mallee (Gateway CC) RBI single, as the Commodore lead doubled in the bottom of the second.
As the bats started to go quiet in the middle innings, Adam Urban (Minnesota) fired up the engine for an impressive first appearance in the Cape League, retiring the first five batters he faced before stymieing a brief two-out rally to keep the Firebirds scoreless.
Orleans scratched across its first run in the top of the sixth, courtesy of a Rex Watson (Coastal Carolina) two-out double to drive in Savoie, who singled two batters before. Reliever Brayden Bergman (formerly Baylor, in transfer portal) preserved a one-run Falmouth lead with a strikeout of Cale Stricklin (Charlotte).
The ‘Dores response was delivered with a pair of loud barrels from Anthony Diaz (formerly New Mexico, in transfer portal) and Ben Slanker (Louisville). Diaz roped a triple into the right-center gap – his second extra-base hit in as many games – to give Falmouth a runner in scoring position with one out in the inning. Kaunas floated a sac fly to center to score the center fielder, and Slanker tacked on another Commodore run with a no-doubt homer to right, Falmouth’s third of the season, tying them for second amongst all teams on the Cape.
According to Coach McMillian, that home run to right was the exact prototype of his dream athlete at the time, saying “Benny was hitting the ball backside – he wanted to actually make sure he got a little bit more contact today, and he reacted to a breaking ball up and crushed it.”
The Firebirds refused to relent with their comeback bid, as Armani Raygoza (UTRGV) welcomed reliever J’Shawn Unger (Nebraska) with a leadoff double in the seventh. Elijah Ickes (Hawaii) and Jeremy Sheffield (Georgetown) followed by drawing free passes, and an Orleans uprising seemed to be imminent as dawn turned to dusk at The Guv.
“Sometimes you get a little ahead of yourself when you're out there on the mound,” said Unger when pinpointing the cause of the rough start to his outing. “I think about falling back on [my] training, trusting [my] stuff. Your stuff got you to where you are now, and sometimes you gotta remind yourself of that.”
He’d find the resolve to slam the door in the face of the Firebirds, punching out the top three of their order to invigorate the Commodore dugout, who felt themselves on the cusp of their third victory of the season. He handed a lot of credit to his catcher, J.J. Kennett, who’s completely embraced the idea of working with a fresh staff over the summer.
“We talked [pitch selection] in the dugout after that first inning. I'm gonna listen to him. He's a guy that can read swings, so he knows what he's doing. He's had a lot of pitchers before, so just trusting him and knowing that throwing myself to conviction helped out a lot.”
Unger brought the spark that Falmouth needed to put the Tuesday night contest away for good with a breakthrough rally in the bottom of the eighth. A leadoff walk from Jackson, another error from the Firebird defense and three straight RBI base hits from Slanker, Riebock and Mallee built a six-run advantage for the ‘Dores with just three outs left for them to secure for the win.
But those three outs needed to be hard-earned, as the bottom of the Orleans order continued to tee off against the Commodore staff. Ickes and Sheffield found themselves as the beneficiaries of a Tyler Myatt home run, which cut the lead in half and had Orleans well within striking distance. A single and a hit batsman later, and the Firebirds had the tying run at the dish – the league’s hottest hitter in Dominic Cadiz (UCLA).
Jack Dahm emerged from the dugout to summon Logan Pikur (Michigan State) for the final two outs of the contest. He delivered, getting Cadiz to pop out to first and ending the game with a strikeout of Wilson, securing the ‘Dores sole possession of first place in the West Division. They’ll seek to keep that spot by keeping their offensive gameplan simple and consistent.
“We got to stick with what we're doing,” McMillian said on the road ahead for his offense. “We've really allowed [the team] to show us who they are…We make them call out their BP, so they're going to tell us where they're going to hit each ball, over and over and over. Five-six holes for lefties, four-three holes for righties. So it's just been fun to watch.”
Falmouth will host Harwich on home soil on Thursday, June 18, at 6:00 p.m.
