Ryan Smyth didn’t give his team a pep talk Sunday. There was no rallying cry, no pregame speech. It didn’t matter that they lost 11-1 the night before, or that they were playing on the road for the first time, or that the players had known each other for less than a week.

Smyth wanted to know what kind of team the Wareham Gatemen were. He wanted to know what his players were made of.

What he found was a group of players with chemistry, grit and talent.

Wareham’s 4-2 win over the Falmouth Commodores on Sunday night at Guv Fuller Field marked the first victory of the season for the Gatemen, as they held the Commodores scoreless through eight innings and rallied in the second half of the game to bring runs across the plate.

“It’s always good to get the first one out of the way,” Smyth said. “They know what the winning feeling is (now), which is a really good thing for them. You saw a lot of smiles, so that’s a good thing.”

Smiles were ever-present and contagious throughout the Wareham dugout even before the game started. Thanks to the extra space in the visitor’s dugout, the Wareham bullpen was able to watch the beginning of the game with the rest of the team.

“They were electric and kind of set the tone early,” Smyth said. “Even though we had some struggles early offensively, I think it kept it loose for our hitters and kept them in it long enough that we had some opportunities and cashed in on them.”

Pitchers controlled the game on and off the field, as Cole Leaman (Lehigh) went toe-to-toe with Falmouth at the plate, pitching five scoreless innings and striking out five batters while only allowing one hit. While Sunday was Leaman’s first time on the bump in the Cape Cod Baseball League, nerves weren’t an issue for the right-handed pitcher.

He knew he was going to be facing some of the top talent in the country, and he was prepared for it. Leaman didn’t let himself get rattled by the few baserunners he had to contend with, and his calm and confident demeanor spread throughout the visitors’ dugout.

“I knew they were a really good team — everyone out here is,” Leaman said. “I just wanted to work in and out, and I feel like I did that pretty well.”

When Leaman’s day was done, another Gatemen player stepped up — just like Smyth was hoping. His name was Jace Rinehart.

After robbing a home run in left field to close out Leaman’s scoreless outing, the USC Upstate junior carried that momentum to the plate by recording his first hit of the game in the sixth inning. When Rinehart came around to score just minutes later thanks to an RBI single from Murf Gray (Fresno State), he scored the first run of the night for the Gatemen.

“It was awesome,” Leaman said. “The vibes instantly rose and it felt like we knew we were going to take that one once we started hitting.”

Two innings later, Rinehart laced a hard-hit fly ball to right field and showcased his speed by turning what typically would be a double into a triple — the first and only triple of the season across the league after two days of games.

“It just goes to show you that baseball truly does have some momentum there, and it was on our side,” Smyth said. “He’s gotten off to a good start. Awesome kid, plays the game right.”

Rinehart wasn’t the only Gatemen player to show off his speed on the bases, as he and Gray worked in tandem to both reach base and get in the heads of the Falmouth pitchers. Gray, who reached base three times on the night, was constantly dancing around off the bases and threatening to run. The risks paid off as he took advantage of back-to-back failed pickoff attempts and a wild pitch to score Wareham’s second run of the game.

Three other Gatemen recorded at least one hit Sunday, and Hunter Dobbins (Ball State) earned his first RBI of the season when his hard-hit double sent Eli Putnam (Davidson) home for one final insurance run in the ninth inning.

“We came up with some clutch hitting,” Smyth said. “That was the team I wanted to see.”

Sunday night proved the Gatemen won’t fold in pitchers’ duels or at the plate, and that the chemistry among the Gatemen is improving by the minute. The fact that they didn’t need any pregame pep talk from their manager to win is proof enough of that.

Top photo credit: Cole Leaman pitches during Wareham's 4-2 win over the Falmouth Commodores, June 16, 2024, at Guv Fuller Field. Photo by Kyler Armstrong.