Bergner tosses scoreless gem, Chatham sweeps season series

Regarded as one of the more consistent offensive teams on Cape Cod, the Bourne Braves came into Thursday’s game with a .272 team batting average, the second-highest mark around the league

Against Chatham, Anglers’ starter Austin Bergner (North Carolina) silenced the bats of Bourne as he allowed three hits in a 5-3 victory over the Braves.

Bergner got his first win of the summer, allowing two unearned runs while striking out nine in 5.2 innings. At the peak of his dominance, the Tar Heel retired 13 straight batters after giving up back-to-back hits to open the game.

“He [Bergner] was mixing his pitches well and had two or three pitches working for him so it was pretty easy for him to dominate the zone,” Jared Triolo (Houston) said.

On the other hand, Chatham was able to generate hard contact throughout, chasing Braves’ starter Bryan Hoeing (Louisville) after four innings. Hoeing allowed five earned runs off of seven hits and two walks.

Leading the offensive charge was Michael Busch (North Carolina), who opened the scoring with a towering two-run shot in the bottom of the first.

Additional RBI hits from John Rave (Illinois State) and Colin Simpson (Oklahoma State) helped the Anglers race ahead to a 5-0 lead after four innings.

For Bourne, both runs came across in the fifth after shortstop Greg Jones was charged with an error for mishandling a ground ball hit by Oscar Serratos (Georgia Tech). Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville) added a run in the top of the ninth but the Braves’ rally fell short.

With Thursday’s result, Chatham takes the season series from Bourne in a sweep.

“Every game is meaningful,” Fitzgerald said. “Every single game, every single night you come out here it’s just as important as the night before, regardless of the team.”

Coming Up: The Braves return to Doran Park where they will host the Hyannis Harbor Hawks for the first time this summer.