Bourne, Mass. The Gatemen led, dominated, for 26 outs against the Cape League’s reigning champions and one of the leaders in the West Division.
Wareham opened the scoring with an RJ Hamilton (Duke) leadoff home run over the left field wall. His first game in the leadoff spot didn’t disappoint: he gave the Gatemen an instant spark to begin the game and set the tone that Friday’s 7-5 offensive explosion wasn’t a fluke. Hamilton’s speed has been a valuable resource in recent weeks, but his bat is now on fire with hits in consecutive games.
“We are just trying to find a mix that's going to cut down on our strikeouts, find ways to put baseball in play,” Gatemen manager Ryan Smyth said. “The more we do that, more times you're going to find a hole and error and you have more opportunity to be on base. And I thought we did an okay job of that tonight, could have been a little bit better. But he (Hamilton) was a spark, obviously, first swing of the game.”
After 18 combined hits on July 3, the Gatemen and Braves were in a defensive standoff on Saturday. The two squads combined for 10 base knocks, two of those coming in the bottom of the ninth in Bourne’s late-game comeback. In a week of strong starts, Jordan Stephens (Georgia) followed suit: eight strikeouts without allowing a single earned run. His second start of the summer was his best one yet.
But the pitching production hasn’t solely come from starters. Wareham’s relievers allowed just four hits last night against the one of the Cape League’s highest team-batting averages. The quick and stress-free frames lessens has made an impact in all facets of the game.
“We're focusing in on the things that we want to focus on: getting ahead in counts, forcing action and making them try to beat us and not us beat ourselves,” Smyth said. “I'd rather give up a solo shot than two walks because we nibbled, and then someone pops one up in one of these small ballparks and it's a three run shot. And I think we've been able to eliminate that, and we've done a really good job doing that.”
The Gatemen went into the bottom of the ninth inning up a run and needed their strong defensive stand to hold for three more outs. They nabbed two outs, but then the Braves’ two hits and two walks gave them a pair of runs for the walk-off victory: their fifth of the summer at Doran Park.
“This (Close loss to Bourne) is probably going to tick them off a little bit, especially feeling like we had that one that one just slipped away,” Smyth said. “They know we got another division game tomorrow in Cotuit, someone we're chasing, so I'm expecting them to be ready to play baseball.”
Wareham can avenge its divisional loss back at Spillane Field on Sunday.
