Grand slam, two-run home run take down Braves at Doran

By: Nick Galle 

In the top of the fourth of Sunday night’s game, Dylan Phillips hit a deep fly ball to left field with the bases loaded that was initially called a ground rule double. Umpires stopped play, came together to confer and ended up overturning the call. It was a grand slam, and the Mariners took a 4-0 lead.

Bourne’s bench was furious and the call seemed to light a spark under the Bravos. Unfortunately, that spark wasn’t enough to top Harwich at Doran Park.

“We only lost one game,” field manager Harvey Shapiro said. “You normally don’t go 21-3. But everything starts with the starting pitcher. Go from there.”

The Bravos responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a solo shot from Josh Moylan and a fielder’s choice from Dalton Rushing that brought home Peter Burns. Those would account for half of Bourne’s runs, as it went on to fall to the Mariners 7-4.

The home run was Moylan’s first of the season after hitting six this past spring at ECU. The top of the lineup was also productive, with Joe Lampe and Max Anderson each going 2-for-4. Lampe had two base hits and Anderson added a double and a single. Moylan said the home run gave him a ton of confidence moving forward.

“It just felt like myself going into my next couple at-bats. Before I was struggling, and as much as you want to say it doesn’t affect you, you start to worry and think about those kind of things,” Moylan said. “That was great. It just felt good to get a barrel and just so happens it got out.”

Entering play hitting safely in four of his last five games, Tanner Schobel stayed hot, hitting a two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth. It was his third home run of the season.

After going five scoreless innings against Cotuit on July 18, Jordan Patty made his fourth start of the season and went four innings, gave up four hits, four runs, walked three and fanned five. Following appearances from Ben Ethridge and Dylan Bowers, Tyler Stuart made his debut in the top of the ninth and walked one and struck out one.

“I felt good. It was good to throw to hitters again. It’s been two months since I’ve thrown to hitters, so it’s good to get my feet wet again,” Stuart said. “Looking forward to the next three weeks.”

The Braves will make the trip to Orleans tomorrow at 7 p.m. for their third matchup of the summer with the Firebirds. After the Bravos and Birds tied 2-2 back on July 6, Peter Burns hit a walk-off single on Friday night in the teams’ second installment of action. Orleans is 10-12-4 on the season.

Cover photo via: Joe Sullivan