Graceffo throws gem to lead Bourne to ninth win of season, historic run continues

Graceffo throws gem to lead Bourne to ninth win of season, historic run continues

By: Nick Galle 

With the MLB Draft just a week away, Gordon Graceffo took the hill in what might be his final appearance in a Bourne Braves uniform. The right-hander is draft eligible and ranked by MLB.com as the No. 205 prospect in this year’s draft class, and he left everything he had out on the mound Sunday night as fireworks echoed throughout Wareham.

The Villanova Wildcat went five innings, allowed just three hits, walked one and struck out four. He shut out the Gatemen and earned the win, his first of the summer.

“The mindset’s always the same, it’s always go out, throw strikes, let the defense make plays (and) let the guys get hits behind me. We did a great job today doing that,” Graceffo said. “Makes it so much easier to go out and play, obviously when you have a good team and good teammates, but when you’re winning, it just makes it that much easier.”

Both teams were locked in a scoreless tie until Kyler Fedko singled in the top of the sixth to bring home Cayden Wallace. The UConn Husky did so right after making a diving catch in right field in the bottom of the fifth that prevented Wareham from taking the first lead of the night.

After working out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the ninth last time these two teams met, Trystan Vrieling once again came out of the bullpen, and he was electric. The Gonzaga Bulldog threw three no-hit innings in relief and fanned four.

The middle of the lineup was most productive for Bourne, as Dalton Rushing went 2-for-3 with a run scored and was hit by a pitch, Cayden Wallace was 1-for-5 with a run scored, Max Anderson went 1-for-5 with two RBIs and Fedko was 1-for-4 with one RBI.

Bourne is now 6-0 on the road and 9-0-2 on the season.

“In summer baseball, sometimes you get a group of guys together that kind of want to win, other times you get a group of guys together that they’re kind of just their own individual entities” assistant coach Kevin Graber said. “This is a group that sort of fell in love with each other for whatever reason on day one and it is a group that truly wants to win, they want to keep this streak going.”

The Braves will return to Doran Park tomorrow night at 6 p.m. for another matchup with the Kettleers. Bourne beat Cotuit 9-2 on June 27 behind five strong innings from Nick Zwack, who became the first Braves starter to record a win this season.

Cover photo via: Joe Sullivan