Bourne Rides Hit Parade to Thrash Cotuit 13-1
By Mojo Hill
In the Bourne Braves’ first two games against Cotuit this summer, they scored a total of zero runs.
On Sunday, they scored nine runs in the first four innings.
It was a completely different story in the teams’ third contest, with the Braves playing at Lowell Park for the first time this season and defeating the first-place Kettleers by a score of 13-1. Revamped with the deepest lineup they’ve had all summer, the bats broke out in a commanding way. They totaled 18 hits, with seven Braves collecting multiple knocks.
“Strung a lot of at-bats together, which was good,” Bourne manager Scott Landers said. “We pitched well. Again, we played good defense. When we’re playing like that, I feel like we’re hard to beat.”
The bats came out hot, facing Cotuit left-hander Tucker Novotny for the third straight time after he held them to nothing in his first two starts. The scalding Derek Bender got things started with a home run in the first inning, and they added three more in the second. Sam Petersen beat out an infield single, then advanced to second on an errant throw. Jackson Castillo and Cameron Foster followed with RBI doubles, and Gage Harrelson made it 4-0 with a well-struck single to the opposite field.
“[Novotny] did a really good job the first two outings keeping us off balance and in between,” Landers said. “Tonight, we didn’t let him get to that point. Tip my cap to our guys in their approaches and the way they swung.”
Bourne right-hander Matt Duffy wasn’t as sharp as his previous outing when he flirted with a no-hitter, but he and the defense kept things under control. A misplayed pop-up put runners on the corners with one out in the second for Cotuit, and second baseman Bryce Eblin managed to double the runner off first on a sharp line drive into his mitt.
“I just wanted to throw strikes,” Duffy said. “That’s usually what I think about when I’m on the mound. When I throw strikes, I feel like I do a lot better than usual. That’s really what the game plan was, and I went out and did my job. So I’m happy with how I did.”
The Braves tacked on three more in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Bender drove it to the deepest part of the ballpark for a two-run double, and another run came in on an error. Novotny’s evening came to an end after pitching 3 1/3 innings and giving up 10 hits.
“When you win the freebie war, a lot of times you’re gonna win,” Landers said, going back to a point he’s stressed all season on both the winning and losing side of things. “Just taking extra bases when they give them to you. It all starts with hustle and awareness, and they did a good job.”
Reliever Zachary Joyce allowed Bender to come home on a wild pitch, completing Novotny’s line with eight earned runs on the board. The error came around to score as well, as Joyce threw two wild pitches before allowing an RBI single to Garrett Michel.
“[Novotny]’s a very talented pitcher, but I think after the third time we saw him, we just adjusted to it,” Michel said. “It was like, ‘Alright, we need to attack him, because we haven’t these last few times.’ So we were due. We were due for a game like this.”
It was a five-run inning for Bourne, blowing the gap wide open to 9-0.
With a bigger lead to work with, Duffy settled in. He put up the game’s first 1-2-3 inning in the third, and went on to retire eight in a row. He finally gave up a run on a double in the fifth, which ended his outing after 4 1/3 solid frames in the books. He received hugs and goodbyes before exiting the mound, as this was his last appearance after spending parts of two summers with the Braves.
“He was awesome,” Landers said. “I wish him the best of luck. He’s out of here getting ready for the draft.”
Lefty reliever Henry Weycker stopped the damage. He threw 2 2/3 hitless innings in relief of Duffy to hold the lopsided score.
Arizona State infielder Jacob Tobias took over on the mound for Cotuit in the seventh. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning, much to the delight of the Kettleers’ dugout. It was one of the few things they had to cheer about Sunday night, with loud roars on each out he recorded.
His next inning wasn’t quite as dominant, with Pete Ciuffreda hitting a pinch-hit double and coming around to score. Tobias still got another massive round of cheers after striking out Foster to end the inning.
The Cotuit dugout quickly fell silent in the ninth, as the Braves rattled off four straight hits to open the inning. Joey Loynd completed the onslaught with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly, driving in Bourne’s 13th run of the night.
Ryan Fischer put the finishing touches on the dominant victory, throwing the final two scoreless innings. The Braves could rest easy and leave Cotuit with smiles on their faces. After a slow start to the season, they’ve now scored 78 runs — the most of any team in the Cape Cod League.
“We’re getting rolling,” Michel said. “And you can see that we’re bonding really, really well. The guys on the team are super cool, so it’s awesome to see.”
