Braves Bats Shut Down By Orleans

By: Jacob Janower

The Bourne Braves mustered up just four hits as they fell 4-0 in a pitcher’s duel to the Orleans Firebirds.

The Braves (3-2) dropped their first game since Opening Day exactly one week prior and were handled by every pitcher the Firebirds threw on the mound.

Holba Works Around Command Issues

Braves starting pitcher Chris Holba (East Carolina) had trouble finding the strike zone during his outing, walking four in the five innings he threw and falling behind each of the first seven batters in the Firebirds order.

“He (Holba) did not have his best stuff out there tonight but I think he battled,” second baseman Grant Williams (Kennesaw State) said. “If you’re able to go five with one run, that’s a solid outing for a pitcher.”

The run that Holba let up was more due to the pair of third inning doubles he surrendered rather than his command.

Former Brave Jimmy Herron (Duke) doubled into the left field gap off of Holba, which turned out to be all the Firebirds needed in the game.

Braves’ Bats Silent Against Murray, Bullpen

The Braves had no answers against Joey Murray (Kent State), the starting pitcher for the Firebirds, and a trio of relievers. Coming off of his first CCBL outing in which he surrendered two runs in four innings, Murray only allowed Bourne to reach second base twice in his five innings.

Despite the Braves offensive troubles, Murray only had one 1-2-3 inning, as Bourne had two singles by Williams and Spencer Brickhouse (East Carolina), as well as two walks.

Orleans’ bullpen had six strikeouts and held the Braves to only two hits in four innings of work.

“They did a really good job of mixing in off-speed and keeping us off-balance,” Williams said. “In plus counts, I thought we hit a couple balls hard just right at them.”

The biggest bright spot of the night was Williams, who delivered the only multi-hit game for the Braves.

“They were working a lot of fastballs in and out over the plate,” Williams said. “I just stuck with my approach and ended up with a couple of knocks.”

Brave of the Game

Rather than handing this out to one player, it feels more apt to give this to a trio of players who shut the door in middle relief. Ian Miller (Harvard), P.J. Poulin (Connecticut), and Kyle Marman (Florida Atlantic) combined to throw three hitless innings, giving the offense a plethora of chances to capitalize.

Coming Up: Bourne will continue its home stand with a matchup against the Harwich Mariners at Doran Park on Thursday night. Eli Kraus (Kent State) is listed as the probable pitcher.

Pre-game, in-game, and post-game highlights: