Hit parade leads Bourne to victory in battle of divisional leaders

Hit parade leads Bourne to victory in battle of divisional leaders

By: Nick Galle

It took Austin Parsley approximately two minutes to retire the Red Sox in order in the top of the first inning. The right-hander from UNC Greensboro was working quickly right out of the gate, and so was Bourne’s offense.

The Bravos brought four runners across the plate in the second inning and one in the third to jump out to an early 5-2 lead over Yarmouth-Dennis on Saturday night. Entering play, the Braves were 9-0-1 when they struck first, and they improved that record to 10-0-1 with a 10-3 win.

“I thought we had some good at-bats, made good contact. In fact I thought we could of had more earlier because we left some guys on base,” field manager Harvey Shapiro said. “We swung the bats well tonight.”

Bourne tallied a total of 15 hits, while four players recorded multi-hit performances. Dalton Rushing was phenomenal from the three-hole, going 4-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. Nick Goodwin with 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored, Max Anderson went 2-for-3 with one RBI, three runs scored and two walks and Joe Lampe went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a stolen base and was hit by a pitch.

“(I) tried to stay a little simple, spread it out a little bit,” Rushing said. “Wasn’t seeing much velo, so just kind of poked the ball wherever. (It) works with the wood bat sometimes and tonight it just worked out for me.”

Parsley made his first start of the season after posting a 2.89 ERA through 9 1/3 innings of relief. He went four innings, gave up three hits, two runs and struck out three.

After throwing three no-hit innings against Wareham on July 4, Trystan Vrieling came on in relief and was outstanding once again. The Gonzaga Bulldog went four no-hit innings this time around, fanning four. He did not allow a single baserunner.

“It makes a lot harder on the hitter when you just go up 0-1. It’s kind of demoralizing for them,” Vrieling said. “It’s absolutely world-crushing when a batter just sees all strikes. It’s just like, ‘Well I got to hit this,’ or ‘This guy’s not walking me.’ So it’s just throwing strikes and making them hit.”

Bourne’s pitching staff has now held opponents to an average of 1.8 runs over the past five games. The Bravos have gone 3-1-1 in that span and are now 9-1-3 when opponents score three runs or fewer.

The Braves will make their first trip of the season to Chatham tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. for a meeting with the Anglers. Bourne tied with the A’s back on June 28 thanks to Braylen Wimmer’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.

Cover photo via: Joe Sullivan