Braves’ Offense Returns to Form in 10-2 Blowout of Brewster

By Mojo Hill

One area the Bourne Braves have thrived in this summer is bouncing back after tough losses. While the losses have piled up in more abundant fashion than they perhaps would have liked as of late, they found a way to get it done in a luxurious 10-2 victory over the Brewster Whitecaps at Doran Park on Thursday.

“It’s tough, man. It’s baseball. We’ve played a ton of close games,” outfielder Kendall Diggs said. “A couple heartbreakers here and there, but that’s what’s great about baseball. You can show up the next day and go back out there and give it all you got. And I think that’s what we’ve been doing. We’re playing really good baseball.”

A four-run second inning and a three-run sixth fueled the win. Bryce Eblin had four hits, while Diggs had three and Derek Bender smashed a home run to scribble in the exclamation mark. Bourne’s record improved to 17-15-1 with the victory, avoiding falling back to .500.

“We had good at-bats,” Braves manager Scott Landers said. “We hit a wall through three or four innings in the middle of the game, but overall the at-bats were good. And I think we took advantage of it.”

Dalton Pence started on the bump for the Braves, coming off back-to-back rough outings. He found himself in trouble to begin his evening, with two runners in scoring position and nobody out in the first. But he worked around it by pumping 94 mph heat past the Whitecaps’ hitters, escaping a massive first-inning jam.

The Braves struck in the bottom of the first on a Diggs RBI double. The Arkansas right fielder has shown a penchant for walking in his time with Bourne, but has recently started to add some thump with his bat.

“I was walking a lot, but I feel like I’m striking out more than I usually do as well. Obviously, it’s premium competition out here. You can’t ask for anything better,” Diggs said. “But being patient out there has always been a huge part of my game…. The big thing for me is just working on my approach, which at first I think was a little shaky. I wasn’t really bought in on an approach. So that’s something these past couple games I’ve been really working on.”

After Pence got into a five-batter roll, Brewster tied it on a solo homer. Pence still collected four strikeouts through the first two innings.

The Braves didn’t let it stay tied for long, rallying for four runs on six singles in the bottom of the second to take a 5-1 lead. Gage Harrelson had the go-ahead base hit, and Eblin came up clutch yet again with a two-run knock. Eblin has recorded multiple hits in three straight games.

“He’s had some loud outs, and now they’re really starting to fall,” Landers said. “He’s a good player, and had good at-bats.”

Pence settled in to throw a scoreless third and fourth inning, allowing just a walk. He cracked in the fifth, surrendering a double a run-scoring single. But he narrowly escaped disaster, with Jared Jones cranking one 377 feet and 102 mph off the bat. It would have tied the game if it left the park, but left fielder Sam Petersen had just enough room to make the catch.

Pence held Brewster to two runs in a five-inning performance, collecting eight strikeouts on the night.

“He was much more consistent tonight than he was in his last two starts,” Landers said. “He really got downhill. We made some adjustments in his ‘pen the other day.”

Bourne tacked on three more in the sixth to widen the gap to 7-2. Adonys Guzman, who recently transferred to the University of Arizona, led off with a double, though he hurt himself going into third base and had to be pinch-run for by Caden Bodine. Jonathan Vastine smacked a sacrifice fly to center to bring Bodine home. Landers said Guzman just tweaked his knee a little bit and should be good to play going forward.

Eblin kept the inning going with his third hit of the game, while Bender followed with his second hit. Bender stole his team-leading 14th base, and a run came home on an errant throw by the catcher. Diggs capped the inning with his third hit, an RBI single to extend Bourne’s lead to 8-2.

“It’s not really a speed thing,” Bender said of his success on the basepaths. “It’s more just good jumps, knowing good counts to run in, just taking the right opportunities when they’re given to me. I set a goal for myself to get 10 bags this summer, and I’ve surpassed that right now.”

In the eighth inning, Bender went back to what he does best. He smacked a two-run homer, putting the icing on the cake in a rout of the Whitecaps. He launched a slider 405 feet, 104 mph off the bat, with an emphatic bat flip to boot.

“Flushing a ball like that, especially with the wood bat, it feels awesome,” Bender said. “Sometimes you gotta let ’em know a little bit.”

Bender’s fourth bomb of the summer followed Eblin’s fourth hit of the game. Not only that — it was a double, the first extra-base hit for Eblin this season. The All-Star infielder is tied for third on the team in RBIs and now has an OBP over .400.

“I’m not gonna lie, I was actually talking about that today,” Eblin said of his first extra-base knock. “I kind of needed that.”

Matthew McShane, Brady Afthim and Jack Sullivan led the rest of the way on the mound, cruising Bourne to an eight-run victory. The atmosphere around the dugout was all smiles as the victorious Bravos participated in their second Autograph Night of the summer, signing balls and hats for a line of kids that extended in and out of the field.

Bourne will be back in action in Falmouth on Friday at 6 p.m.

“The game isn’t really won by who barrels the most balls and who gets the most hits,” Bender said. “It’s who executes and who scores more runs. We just keep telling ourselves: Keep doing the little things right. Keep showing up, and balls will find holes, and we’ll find runs to win.”