Braves Beat Harwich Behind Fitzgerald’s Blast

By: Jacob Janower (Photo: Blaine McCormick)

Although the forecast didn’t call for it, pigs were flying in Bourne, Massachusetts on Wednesday night. The reason? The Bourne Braves hit their first two home runs of the season at Doran Park.

Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville) made the difference by delivering a go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning to give the Braves a come-from-behind 7-5 victory over the Harwich Mariners. It took 16 home games for the Braves to finally get on the board with a long ball at Doran.

“I’ve been in that position plenty of times this school year and a couple times this summer,” Fitzgerald said regarding the chance to give the Braves the lead. “I’ve just learned not to try to do too much and honestly I’ve just gone up there with a two-strike approach to try to put the ball in play, and I just so happened to square it up and hit it over the fence.”

The previous hitter in the eighth, Richie Palacios (Towson), had tied the game with a single, which was his third hit of the night.

“You just have to stay relaxed,” Palacios said about his mindset in that situation. “Just take it like every other at-bat. You can’t get too adrenaline hyped. You just have to stay relaxed and do what’s best for the team.”

All of the late offensive damage came against Brian Christian (Northeastern), who had previously one-hit the Braves over seven innings in their last meeting.

“We had more of a simple approach,” Palacios said. “We might have had too complex of an approach that last time we faced him, but we had a simple approach to hit the ball back up the middle and we got a couple bombs too.”

A four-run third inning from the Mariners (10-21-1) seemed to lock the game up for them, but a strong performance from the bullpen allowed the Braves to continue to chip away at the lead until the game-altering eighth inning.

Braves’ starting pitcher Andrew Crane (Troy) was lit up by a barrage of eight hits and five earned runs in his two and 2/3 innings of a work, a far cry from his last start- also against Harwich- when he gave up only one run in five innings.

Antoine Duplantis (LSU) led off the game with a triple and came around to score to spark the Mariners bats. After a quiet second inning against Crane, they poured it on with five hits and a walk in the third to give themselves a four-run advantage. The big blow came on a two-run single by catcher Nick Dalesandro (Purdue).

Familiar Face Helps Revamp Braves Offense

A new addition to the Braves lineup could end up paying big dividends moving forward.

Shortstop Jeremy Eierman (Missouri State)- a second-year Brave- made his 2017 debut on Wednesday after returning from a stint with Team USA.

Eierman, who homered 23 times and posted a 1.106 OPS this past season with the Bears, made his presence felt immediately with a solo home run to dead center field.

“It’s going to be nice having him in the lineup,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a solid, solid hitter. Going to be a nice three-hitter for us. He’s going to be good on defense too. He’s just a strong bat that we can rely on day in and day out.”

The rest of the Braves lineup scattered three runs in the early innings. Fitzgerald scored Grant Witherspoon (Tulane) on a bloop single. Two frames later, Witherspoon scored again on an infield single by Jameson Hannah (Dallas Baptist). Witherspoon had two hits on the night on top of his two runs scored.

Some small ball allowed another run to score on a safety squeeze by Andy Atwood (Oregon State).

Bullpen Keeps Braves in the Contest

After Crane’s struggles, the success of the Braves bullpen provided a big boost. Middle relievers Sean Leland (Illinois) and Luis Alvarado (Nebraska) combined to throw five scoreless innings.

Leland put multiple runners on base in both innings after inheriting Crane’s jam, but got a couple of ground balls to prevent any further damage.

On the contrary, Alvarado, the All-Star, only allowed one of the 10 hitters he faced to reach base.

Ryan Feltner (Ohio State) earned his CCBL-leading seventh save of the season with a 1-2-3 inning.

“Every time they come out I know we are going to stay in the game,” Fitzgerald said about the bullpen. “I know those guys are going to come and get the job done just like they are supposed to. They are phenomenal. That’s why a couple of them are in the All-Star game.”

Stat That Mattered

The Mariners had five more at-bats (12) with runners in scoring position than the Braves (7).

Brave of the Game

It’s hard to argue against Fitzgerald, due to his two-hit, three-RBI night and his home run that secured the win.

One thing that he came to the Cape with intentions on working on wass his power.

“I’ve hit one home run this past year, this was the first one,” he said. “Hopefully there is more to come.”

Coming Up: For the final time this summer, the Cotuit Kettleers will make the trek to Doran Park to play the Braves. Justin Hooper (UCLA) is the Kettleers’ probable starter, while Zack Hess (LSU) is expected to pitch for Bourne.