Six-run top of the ninth propels Bourne to victory over Harwich, extends win streak to eight games
By: Nick Galle
After the Braves were no-hit since the third inning, Tanner Schobel stepped into the right-side batter’s box in the top of the ninth against Owen Coady, who hadn’t allowed a single run through 10 innings of work this summer. Three consecutive walks had loaded the bases, and for the second time in just as many nights, ninth-inning heroics would carry Bourne to victory.
Schobel laced a single into left field, plating two. An errant throw on the play would clear the bases, and the Bravos went on to post a six-run top of the ninth to break a 4-4 tie. Eric Adler came on for the home half of the inning, sent the Mariners packing in order and Bourne extended its win streak to eight games behind a 10-4 win in Harwich.
“I was just thinking, ‘See a fastball and put it in play.’ Especially in that situation, bases loaded, no outs, the worst thing you can do is strike out,” Schobel said. “So I figured, just put it in play and see what happens. So I got a good fastball down the middle, a little bit high, and I just put a barrel on it.”
The Braves had tallied four runs through the first two innings to jump out to an early lead, but the Mariners chipped away slowly but steadily to even things by the ninth. In addition to solo shots off the bats of Zach Prajzner and Chris Newell, RBI singles from Brendan Tinsman and Dylan Phillips were responsible for the comeback, but the Bourne pitching staff never let Harwich take control.
Ken Turner kept the Braves in contention in his second start of the season, as the Hartford product went four innings, allowed four hits, two runs, walked a pair and struck out four. Dylan Bowers was also exceptional in late-relief, recording three of his four outs by way of the strikeout.
“Everybody’s doing their part and throwing strikes. They know what their job is and they come in throwing strikes,” pitching coach Eddie Marko said. “They don’t try and do too much, and they try and get the first guy out of every inning, (throw) first pitch strikes (and) win the 1-1 counts, and we’ve been fortunate enough we’ve been doing it and we’ve had good success with it.”
Four of the newly-named West Division All-Stars, Christian Knapczyk, Max Anderson, Dalton Rushing and Braylen Wimmer, combined for six of Bourne’s seven hits.
Knapczyk went 2-for-4 with one RBI, three runs scored and a walk, Anderson went 2-for-5 with a double and one run scored and both Rushing and Wimmer went 1-for-4 with two RBIs apiece.
“They’re (the team) just resilient, they like to play and as I said to them out there, everybody has taken turns helping us win the game,” field manager Harvey Shapiro said. “It’s a special team, but it’s still hard for me to evaluate them with other teams that completed the season.”
Following their 17-run, 29-hit showdown earlier this week, the Braves and Commodores will be back at Doran Park tomorrow night at 6 p.m. for their fifth meeting of the season. Bourne is a perfect 4-0 against Falmouth after Colby Thomas’ walk-off home run sent the ‘Dores home with a loss on Monday night.
Cover photo via: Joe Sullivan
