Braves Fight But Suffer Walk-Off 4-3 Loss to Hyannis
By Mojo Hill
A glimmer of hope dissipated into the sting of another tight loss for the Bourne Braves under the Saturday night lights in Hyannis.
After trailing for most of the game, the Braves tied it with two outs in the ninth on a Bryce Eblin RBI single. But the momentum, which took a rapid shift in their favor, screeched to an abrupt halt and tumbled into rubble just as quickly. The Braves suffered a walk-off 4-3 loss in 10 innings to the Harbor Hawks at McKeon Park, handing them their third straight loss and dropping their record to 15-14-1.
“I mean, we battled. We made a couple mistakes,” Bourne manager Scott Landers said. “But I think for the second night in a row, we didn’t hit with runners in scoring position again. We’re lacking the big hit right now to break some things open. But we’ll figure it out.”
Each team scored a two-out run in the first inning. The Braves took the lead on an RBI single from Caden Bodine, the talented switch-hitting catcher who needed that hit after a few rough games in a row. But Ryan Fischer, coming off an outing where he fired six scoreless innings, surrendered a two-out RBI single to Hyannis in the bottom of the frame to knot things up at one apiece.
Fischer settled in, going on to throw five innings with just the one run allowed. He made an error in the third, but redeemed himself by nabbing a comebacker and starting a rundown between third and home. He only struck out one batter, compared to seven in his last start, but he didn’t walk anyone and kept the game tied into the sixth.
Similar to Friday night, the Braves struggled to come up with clutch hits after the first inning. They drew three walks in third, but Bodine couldn’t lift the ball and grounded into an inning-ending double play this time.
Left-hander Henry Weycker made his return to Bourne in the sixth inning after recently transferring from Virginia Tech to Coastal Carolina. He got tagged for four hits and two runs, putting the Harbor Hawks on top. He issued two free passes to start the seventh, but stopped the bleeding there and kept the Braves within two. He wound up going three innings with two runs allowed in three innings of work.
“Right where he left off,” Landers said of Weycker. “I thought his stuff was good. I thought he got tired a little bit. But he grinded through that last inning for us. He had all of his pitches working and got out of some jams, which was good.”
The Coastal Carolina boys went back to work in the top of the eighth. Bourne tacked on a run with singles from both of them, along with Derek Bender’s team-leading 11th steal of the season. Bodine collected his second RBI single of the game to cut the Braves’ deficit to 3-2.
“He should be a constant in the middle of the order,” Landers said. “Everybody’s gonna go through their peaks and valleys, but I think he’s coming out the other side right now. He’s been down for a couple games, but most hitters like he is don’t stay down for too long.”
Bourne looked to be on its way to another tight loss with just not enough offense. But Garrett Michel led off the ninth with a pinch-hit single, and the Braves showed they weren’t done quite yet. Gage Harrelson kept the line moving with a one-out walk, setting things up for the hot Jonathan Vastine, who’d already been on base three times Saturday night. But the Vanderbilt shortstop struck out, shaking his head as he returned to the dugout with the fate of the game on thin ice.
Up stepped Eblin, last year’s postseason MVP who had been held hitless on Saturday. With the Braves down to their last out, he knocked one into left field for a single, scoring pinch-runner Nu’u Contrades from second. The Braves could take a momentary sigh of relief that they weren’t going to lose this one — at least not yet.
Ryan Free pitched a scoreless bottom of the ninth, which sent to the game to its lone extra inning. Bender, who made the last out of the top of the ninth, was the free runner on second. He stole his 11th base of the summer earlier in the game, giving him sole possession of the team lead.
Bodine fought off multiple foul balls before recording his third base hit of the game. He had a chance for it to be his third RBI single of the night, but a perfect throw from left field nabbed Bender at the plate. Sam Petersen pinch-ran for Bodine and got picked off, ending a disastrous inning on the bases for Bourne.
“We were trying to get a runner in scoring position with two outs on the strike. That’s on me,” Landers said. “The hit to left — in hindsight, you could say he should have stopped him at third base, but it is what it is. He made a good throw, and got us.”
Free retook the mound for the bottom of the 10th hoping to at least settle for a tie, but Zach Yorke greeted him with a walk-off run-scoring double. All the Braves could do was keep their heads high and reconvene as a squad by the first base dugout, decompressing from another tough loss and their worst skid since the first week of the summer.
“I think we just have to have a better approach and not get big with our swings, and not be so passive,” Landers said. “I think we just have to put the ball in play and let things happen.”
