Bourne Evens Season Series With Falmouth

By: Jacob Janower

Starting pitcher Chris Holba and the Bourne Braves bullpen had a daunting task ahead of them.

They were tasked with facing the most prolific offense in the Cape Cod Baseball League and rose to the challenge.

The Braves (11-8) defeated the Falmouth Commodores (11-8) by a score of 6-4 and shut down an offense that entered the game leading the CCBL with 99 runs scored.

Holba (East Carolina) was able to avoid command problems that had been his achilles heel in the past. He walked just one hitter and only ran into two three-ball counts, which was undoubtedly a big reason why he allowed one run in four innings.

“It’s been frustrating all summer, my fastball command has been a little bad,” he said about his walk rate. “Today I told myself to just challenge hitters.”

He kept the Commodores off-balance throughout his outing and let his defense do their thing behind him.

“I just stuck to my game plan,” Holba said. “I ignored what they did yesterday.”

Three relievers, Ray Gaither (Dallas Baptist), Chad Luensmann (Nebraska), and Ryan Feltner (Ohio State) finished off the final five innings. Luensmann and Feltner shook off a dramatic eighth and ninth inning that saw Falmouth bring the tying run to the plate.

Altogether, the Commodores offense looked like a far cry from the same group that put up 13 runs on the Braves pitching staff the previous night.

Balanced Offensive Effort

From the leadoff batter to the nine hitter, everyone in the Braves lineup contributed to the win.

Seven hitters in the starting lineup had at least one hit, and all nine had at least one run batted in or one run scored. Nobody truly stood out, which allowed everyone involved to contribute to the winning effort.

Scott Schreiber (Nebraska) had two hits and drove in his team leading 10th run, while Lyle Lin (Arizona State) reached base three times on a single and two walks.

“It helps a lot,” Holba said. “It just limits what an offense can do. They can’t bunt, or hit and run as much when we have a lead. So that helps me a lot just to throw strikes.”

Feltner Continues Closer Evolution

Despite not being viewed as the closer at the start of the season, Feltner nailed down his fifth save in as many chances as he ran his scoreless innings total up to eight in a row.

His belief in himself has gone way up since he was entrusted with the hefty demands that the pressure spot in the ninth inning brings.

“I just try to get ahead with my fastball and once I do that I feel like I’m in a pretty good position regardless of the outside factors that are going on,” Feltner said. “Just focus on the at-bat and on the hitter.”

After a tough sophomore season with the Buckeyes, the Cape League has really allowed Feltner to gain comfort as a closer.

“I think the biggest factor is just confidence,” Feltner said. “I had a good outing my first time and it just snowballed from there. I’ve got a great defense behind me, that helps a lot too.”

Stat That Mattered

Falmouth had only seven hits, not a bad total on a normal night, but significant due to the fact that they had 23 on Sunday.

Brave of the Game

Deservedly so, the entire pitching staff gets the honors for Monday’s win. Led by Holba, they were able to shut down a high-powered offense at a hitter friendly park. Their effort allowed the Braves to keep pace with a team that looks like they could be their biggest competition within the division.

Coming Up: The Braves will spend the Fourth of July at their home field, Doran Park, against the Wareham Gatemen, who they previously defeated 6-4 on Saturday.