Moylan’s two RBIs lift Braves over Commodores for third time this season

By: Nick Galle 

The Braves entered Wednesday night averaging just two runs over their past three games. Those offensive struggles continued, as Bourne was held to just two hits through the first six innings of action, but it wasn’t something that Josh Moylan and some late-game magic couldn’t fix.

The Bravos posted a three-run bottom of the seventh thanks to an RBI single from Dalton Rushing and an infield single from Josh Moylan that brought home a pair of runners to give Bourne its first lead of the night. That lead would hold, and the Braves would take down the Commodores for the third time this season.

“I was just kind of going in trying to have some hard contact and just putting up an at-bat with two strikes and guys in scoring position,” Moylan said. “We came back out, we saw the opportunity when they switched arms and we were like, ‘Let’s just jump on it,’ so then guys put up some good at-bats, we got a nice double down the line and we just kept fighting.”

Max Anderson had yet another good night at the dish, going 2-for-4 with a double and one run scored, Joe Lampe added two singles and Dalton Rushing went 1-for-3 with two RBIs and one run scored.

Jordan Patty scattered four hits over four innings of work, gave up two runs, walked one and struck out three. He came on for the fifth but was unable to record an out, and Ben Ethridge came on in relief. Ethridge was outstanding, tossing three innings of one-hit baseball. His efforts were enough to earn him his first win of the season.

“I was so happy to get back out there for more than an inning and just let my stuff go loose,” Ethridge said.

Since Eric Adler pitched in the bottom of the ninth last night, field manager Harvey Shapiro turned to Xavier Lovett in the save situation. The Mississippi State Bulldog retired the Commodores in order on just nine pitches to earn his first save of the summer.

“My team gave me some leeway,” Lovett said. “I was out there, I was just comfortable. I go out there, do my job, get three up, three down and hey, that’s what happened. I didn’t even know it was the ninth inning, I thought it was the eighth honestly.”

After their off day tomorrow, the Bravos will be back at Doran Park on Friday for a meeting with the Harbor Hawks, who are in the midst of a four-game losing streak and sit at 2-11-0 on the season. Bourne beat Hyannis 3-0 back on Opening Day behind home runs from Rushing and Braylen Wimmer.

Cover photo via: Joe Sullivan