Martin’s distance outing slams the door on Falmouth

By: Zach Pekale

Ranging from offensive outbursts to dominant starting pitching, the Bourne Braves have found a myriad of ways to win during the first week of the 2018 season.

On Tuesday, the Braves added another method in their 4-2 victory over the Falmouth Commodores.

A nine-out save.

Closer Kyle Martin (Fordham) entered the game with the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning. He limited the damage to one run off a sacrifice fly before getting out of the jam.

Martin remained in the game for the eighth and ninth innings and finished with one hit, one walk and three strikeouts to pick up his first save of the summer.

“I was just focusing on one batter at a time, wasn’t worried about who’s coming up, just focused on throwing my best pitches and making sure I got the job done,” Martin said.

Peeks and Valleys

Following a rough outing on Opening Day, starter Zach Peek (Winthrop) rebounded against Falmouth with four shutout innings.

He exited after allowing two hits and two walks, recording six of the Braves’ 13 strikeouts for the game.

“I think the biggest difference tonight was just mixing my pitches. Last week I thought I threw too many strikes and too many fastballs,” Peek said. “I thought we did a great job, found changeups, I had sliders. I couldn’t have asked for better pitch calling.”

Fluid Fundamentals

Outfielder Chase Murray (Georgia Tech) drove in the first two runs of the game on an RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly. Murray’s efforts proved to be the difference in Bourne’s second straight road win.

Murray later scored on a passed before Spencer Brickhouse (East Carolina) provided an insurance run with an RBI double that scored Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville).

“I thought, for the most part, we swung the bats pretty well,” manager Harvey Shapiro said. “I thought Brickhouse had some good at-bats.”

Following Tuesday’s game, Brickhouse’s .429 batting average stands as the third-highest in the league.

Player of the Game

For the second straight day a pitcher is walking away with this award.

Martin came on in relief facing a difficult scenario with the bases loaded and no outs. He remained composed in holding Falmouth to one run and was able to give the Braves’ bullpen a break after the team played 11 games in 13 days.

The rising junior comfortably mixed his fastball and slider interchangeably to stymie the Commodores down the stretch, securing the win for Bourne.

Coming Up: Bourne returns to Doran Park for a two-game set, beginning with its first meeting of the season with the Harwich Mariners.