Bourne Blasted by Red Sox in 14-0 Beatdown

By Mojo Hill

Some days, things just don’t go your way.

The Bourne Braves had about nothing go right for them Friday night. Y-D put on an onslaught in the middle innings, and the Braves were pummeled 14-0 at Doran Park. It dropped their record to an even .500 at 19-19-1. They had a chance to clinch a playoff spot with a win and a Wareham loss, but they couldn’t get it done.

“We got our butts kicked tonight, and we boat raced,” Bourne manager Scott Landers said. “But we gotta come back tomorrow and figure some things out.”

Bryce Cunningham, who entered with a 1.37 ERA, fired two scoreless innings to begin his outing, recording a punchout in each frame. But the Red Sox rallied for three runs in the third. Y-D had two RBI singles that found holes, sandwiched by an RBI double from Braden Montgomery.

Cunningham’s evening came to an abrupt end after his rough third. Caden Bodine and Josh Kuroda-Grauer each recorded a single, but that’s all the Braves’ offense had through three innings.

“[Cunningham]’s got a blister on his finger and he couldn’t really feel the ball,” Landers said. “I’m not gonna make an excuse. He won’t make an excuse. But if you don’t score any runs, what’s it matter?”

Left-hander Anthony Figueroa made his Bourne debut and struggled in the fourth. He surrendered a two-run single, then a mammoth three-run homer to the switch-hitting Montgomery. The Stanford two-way player hit it to dead central from the right side after batting left-handed in his first two trips to the plate. Center fielder Gage Harrelson fell over the fence trying to make the catch. It was a five-run frame, blowing it open to 8-0.

“He got hit around a little bit,” Landers said of Figueroa. “I told him, ‘Welcome to the Cape,’ and he’s gotta move on from there. He’s gotta clean up some stuff. That was the first time we’ve seen him, but it’s a good arm, so we’ll get him back out there as soon as we can.”

The Braves responded by going down in a rare three-pitch inning. Bourne’s 2-3-4 hitters each swung at the first pitch and hit into an out in the field.

Y-D scratched out one more against Figueroa in the fifth. The southpaw stayed in for two batters in the sixth, but both recorded hits — including Montgomery with his third extra-base hit and fifth RBI of the night. Max LeBlanc came in and allowed the inherited runners to score on bloop hits, along with three runs charged to LeBlanc himself as the Red Sox just kept chipping away. It was Y-D’s second five-spot of the night, plowing Bourne into a 14-0 ditch.

LeBlanc bounced back with a 1-2-3 seventh. Montgomery hit another one a long way, but it held up just before the wall this time.

“I didn’t think he had his best stuff tonight, but he gave us all we needed to get through that game,” Landers said of LeBlanc. “So I tip my cap to him.”

Kuroda-Grauer collected his second hit of the game in the seventh, one of three singles for Bourne in the inning. Bryce Eblin nearly hit a grand slam, but it stayed in the right field corner for a flyout as the Braves left the bases loaded.

Montgomery pitched the eighth in, and Bourne loaded the bases again but came up empty. Eblin recorded his second hit of the night in the ninth, but that was all for the Braves on Friday.

They’ll go back on the road for a 7 p.m. game against Chatham on Saturday. They just need a win or a Wareham loss to clinch a playoff spot.

“Fourteen-nothing doesn’t really matter, as soon as we hopefully clinch a playoff spot,” Landers said. “We just gotta get hot at the right time.”