Wareham, Mass. — The Wareham Gatemen once again donned their red shirts, in partnership with the Massachusetts State Lottery, in their second Friday home game of the season. Once again, they squared off against the Bourne Braves, where they searched for their first win against their West Division rival.
The Braves entered the game 2-0 against the Gatemen in 2025. The first game ended quickly due to extreme weather. The Braves walked away with a 4-3 win after five innings despite a 5-4 Gatemen lead in the top of the sixth. Then, in their last meeting at Spillane Field, the Braves won 5-2 after a five-run sixth inning.
The Gatemen, with momentum on their side after a dominant 10-2 win over Orleans on Wednesday, looked to keep the ball rolling into the weekend, and they got what they were looking for after another great start.
The Gatemen (9-13) fought off the Bourne Braves (9-11-2) to win 5-4 on Friday. The win is the Gatemen’s second consecutive and their first of the summer against Bourne.
The win also places Wareham back into fourth place in the West Division after Cotuit lost to Falmouth 7-6 at Lowell Park on Friday. Now, the Gatemen are starting to find a groove, winning three of their last four games.
The game began with another great first inning from the Gatemen. It started with a lead-off walk from First Baseman Chris McHugh (NC State), followed by a double from Left Fielder Levi Clark (Tennessee) that put two runners in scoring position with 0 outs. Then, Catcher Hunter Carns (Florida State) hit a deep fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly that drove home McHugh.
After that, when the Gatemen had runners on the corners, Designated Hitter Caden McDonald (Florida) drove in Third Baseman Colby Turner (Michigan) to put the Gatemen up 2-0 after the first.
The game became tight as the Braves quickly responded in the second. Jon LeGrande (St. John’s) singled to left field to score Kuhio Aloy (Arkansas) to cut the Gatemen’s lead in half.
Wareham then scored again in the third. Colby Turner scored on a wild pitch from Braves pitcher Folger Boaz (North Carolina) to make it 3-1. Kuhio Aloy answered again for the Braves in the fourth, however, blasting a home run deep to left center field to make the score cut into the Gatemen’s lead.
The next two innings became a defensive war of attrition for both teams. It was a standoff filled with good pitching and good fielding on both sides. The stalemate was broken by the Braves, however, when they loaded up the bases in the top of the seventh.
Gatemen Pitcher TJ Schlageter (Louisville) found himself on the mound during that tough jam with only one out. The pressure was on him to deliver a couple of outs, as one wrong move could blow the game open for the Braves.
The Louisville Cardinal, after a journey to the College World Series in Omaha this past spring, was well prepared and escaped the jam with minimal damage, allowing only a sacrifice fly that tied the game 3-3.
“This goes back to what I was taught back at school. It's just bearing down and trying to minimize runners. If it's bases loaded, one out, you're trying to do your best to minimize the amount of runs that cross home plate, and so that’s what I stuck to,” said Schlageter.
‘That's a big moment for him to bear down and get out of that. He was in Omaha this year, so he knows pressure, and he knows what pitching in big moments feels like. So, he was the perfect guy for that spot, and he did exactly what he needed to do,” said Gatemen Field Manager Ryan Smyth.
The escape from the jam gave the Gatemen dugout a lot of confidence, and they were quick to pick up their pitcher by scoring two crucial runs in the seventh.
A passed ball scored Levi Clark, who led off the inning with a single. Then, Caden McDonald drove in Hunter Carns on an RBI single to give the Gatemen another insurance run.
“I just was happy to come through in a big spot, and it turned out to be the difference. So, just trying to get some extra insurance runs,” said McDonald.
McDonald went 2 for 4 and drove in 2 RBI, including that crucial fifth run. The Gatemen offense collected 10 hits on the afternoon, a product of valuing every at-bat in a gritty, defensive game.
“We went up early, and then they kept clawing back one by one. No lead was safe, so we were just trying to get as big of a lead as we could,” said McDonald. “Coach Mobbs had been talking about how we should keep the bats going, because we haven't scored very much late in the game. We did that tonight, and it proved to be the difference.”
The Braves did threaten again in the top of the ninth, scoring a run off a Ryan Cooney (Oregon) single that scored Brayden Holcomb (Vanderbilt). However, Gatemen Pitcher Logan Baisley (FGCU), who primarily was a starting pitcher for Wareham this summer, closed the game and secured the Gatemen’s second consecutive win.
The beautiful thing about this win for the Gatemen was that it was completely different from their win on Wednesday. While they beat the Firebirds with a dominant offensive performance, this game against the Braves was won thanks to solid pitching and defense, showcasing another way the team can win games.
“There are going to be games where we swing it out here. There's going to be games where we've pitched and held games close. It’s all coming together; we've been battle-tested all year and haven't been on the great side of a lot of those games before. I think it's just starting to mean a little bit more to these guys and everyone’s gotten comfortable,” said Smyth.
The win, against a divisional opponent, was important for the Gatemen and improved their position in the West Division standings. Now they look to carry that into Saturday, where they play the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
First pitch for that game will be at 6:00 p.m. at McKeon Park in Hyannis.
