Commodores Bats Topple Braves

By: Jacob Janower

The Bourne Braves pitching staff struggled mightily in their biggest loss of the year, a 13-3 defeat to the Falmouth Commodores.

Sunday’s game was an early battle for first-place in the West Division.

Three RBI singles by Zac Susi (Connecticut), Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville), and Andy Atwood (Oregon State) counted for the Braves (10-8) only runs, but it was the Commodores’ (11-7) offense that took center stage, tallying 22 hits and scoring at least one run in six innings.

Commodores Offense Pours It On

It was understandable that Braves’ starting pitcher Nick Bennett (Louisville) would have some rust to shake off, since he was making his first appearance of the summer and throwing in his first game since June 22, when he pitched for the Cardinals in the College World Series.

Bennett lasted just three innings and was tagged for an onslaught of nine hits by the Commodores offense, a group that is at or near the top of nearly every stat category in the CCBL. Despite all of the hits, the left-hander was able to work around some jams in the first two innings with runners in scoring position.

It was in the third inning that Falmouth’s offense started to come alive. Run scoring singles by Marty Bechina (Michigan State) and Josh Breaux (McLennan CC) put them ahead. The Commodores would add three more runs on four hits in the fourth inning, headlined by a two-run single by Alec Bohm (Wichita State).

Bohm had five hits in six at-bats while George Janca (Texas A&M) went 5-for-5 with two doubles for Falmouth.

Steinmetz, Breaux Flex Muscles

Hunter Steinmetz’s (Missouri State) grand slam off of Christian Ryder (Georgia) in the fifth inning broke the game wide open, but it was Jameson Hannah’s (Dallas Baptist) dropped fly ball that kept the inning alive.

The Commodores were able to load the bases off of Ryder after the first two hitters were retired, but had Hannah caught a flyout in the inning, no damage would have been done. Instead Steinmetz capitalized on the first pitch of his at-bat and all four runs were unearned.

One inning later, Breaux knocked out a no doubter to left off of Ryder, extending the Commodores lead to eight runs.

Stat That Mattered

The Commodores pounded the Braves pitching and put at least one runner in scoring position in every inning, which shouldn’t come as a surprise based off of their hit total.

You can contact the author via email (jjanower@gmail.com) or follow him on Twitter (@JanowerJacob).