Small ball, sacrifice flies push Bravos past Firebirds in technical victory

By Mac Friday

(Photo: Braden Reed/Bourne Braves)

Baseball, the romantic game, has perhaps the widest range of outcomes in any sporting event out there. However, fans usually gaze and goggle at the extremes: a 450-foot home run, a 100 mph pitch, a leaping catch at the fence. Yet, the technical victory is often overlooked, as small ball and sacrifice flies do not carry the energy the striking plays display.

The Bourne Braves found took home one of these technical victories on Friday, defeating the Orleans Firebirds at Doran Park 4-2 via strong pitching, small ball singles and sacrifice flies, while also minimizing negative aspects on their game which have limited their wins at the quarter mark of the CCBL season.

“We had six hits on the night,” Braves manager Scott Landers said. “When you don’t make errors and don’t walk guys, you can play and win a game like that. I’m really happy even though we only had six hits. We had a bunch more walks and our two-strike approach was much better tonight compared to our last week. I’m very happy overall with tonight.”

Friday was also the first time the Braves got on the scoreboard in the first inning, jumping out to a quick 1-0 lead against Orleans right-handed starter Kyle Carr. It was second baseman Matt Shaw who got the bats going for the Braves early, poking an infield single off the glove of Orleans third baseman Kevin Sim, before beating the throw out to first. Shaw then stole second, advanced to third on on a groundout, and scored on an RBI single to right field from first baseman Chris Brito.

Shaw went on to record his best offensive performance on the Cape across the rest of the contest, despite not crossing home plate again. In the third blooped a single to center field, then laced a double to right-center field in the fifth. Friday was Shaw’s first multi-hit game of the season after just two games with one hit in each (double at Orleans June 18 and home run at Y-D June 21). He was responsible for half of the Bravos hits at Doran Park on Friday.

“Matty Shaw had a great game for us tonight,” Landers said. “He did a great job getting his swing on the ball for three hits. He’s a big impact player for us on both sides of the ball.”

“I think I’ve definitely settled in,” Shaw said of his breakout offensive night. “There are a lot of good arms on the Cape and they throw great stuff, a lot of good pitches. Getting used to the wood bats and the velocity took me a couple days, but I’m definitely more settled in than I was day one.”

The Bravos scored the remaining trio of runs on the night by sacrifice flies to the outfield.

In the third, shortstop Lane Forsythe walked on four pitches and then stole second, his first of two swiped bags on Friday. He advanced to third on a single by Shaw, before scoring on a sac fly to left from left fielder Jack Hurley.

Forsythe made his first start since the Bravos second game against Wareham on June 13, when he took a ground ball to the teeth in warmups, knocking out his two front teeth. Forsythe required surgery back in his home state of Tennessee before returning to action at Doran Park and certainly made the most of his performance. He swiped a base after pinch-running late in Wednesday’s win against Chatham and eventually crossed home as the winning run in the bottom of the eighth.

“I’m glad to be back,” Forsythe twanged, flashing his new mouthguard. “It’s good to be back out there. They let me steal a base and score the winning run the other night and then to be back out here today and start felt so good. (Stealing bases) is not too bad. I like stealing on pitchers.”

In the sixth, third baseman Wyatt Henseler reached on a dropped third strike and was replaced on the base paths by John Peck. Right fielder Jack Duffy then slotted a single through the right side. Designated hitter Dakota Harris and catcher Alan Espinal then brought both runners home with sac flies to left and center, respectively.

Right-hander Kade Grundy started on the mound for Bourne and flourished on the bump. Grundy cruised through four innings of one-run work, allowing just three hits and three walks with a pair of strikeouts.

“My slider and curveball worked very well today,” Grundy reflected. “They worked well off the fastball and later in the game I leaned on those off-speed pitches because I was forcing the fastball and missing.”

“Orleans has a lot of good players, so I was proud of myself and the bullpen. We threw a lot of first-pitch strikes and it was probably the most we have thrown all year, so it looked good. We all pounded the ball in the zone and got ahead early which helped us win.”

Orleans tallied their first run in the third with two outs, as the CCBL Player of the Week in Week 1, center fielder Travis Honeyman, doubled into right-center field. After second baseman Nate Furman walked, left fielder Jacob Wilson roped a double of his own, scoring Honeyman, but Furman received the stop sign and was stranded after a groundout.

Orleans notched another run in the seventh off of righty Garrett Edwards after two singles with a hit-by-pitch in between, but the LSU Tiger got his act together, only allowing a single run despite five hits permitted in four innings. Edwards didn’t walk a single Firebird and struck out three. But Orleans’ luck ran out in the ninth at the hands of closer Nigel Belgrave, who dealt a hitless ninth en route to a Bravos win.

“I thought all three guys battled and pitched well,” Landers said. “Kade made a couple of mistakes walking a few guys but overall did a great job. Garrett came in and did a fantastic job and Nigel closed it all down. They all have the stuff to be good as long as they don’t walk guys… We are really happy with the overall win tonight.”

Bourne is back in action at Doran Park on Saturday at 6 p.m. against the Hyannis Harbor Hawks, the first meeting between the two sides this season.