Four-Run Eighth Propels Bourne to 6-5 Win Over Orleans

By Mojo Hill

For much of Saturday’s game, it seemed like the Bourne Braves’ early-season demons had swooped back in and taken hold of a once-surging offense. They had baserunners in every inning, but were struggling to find that big hit to lead them to victory.

Matters only became worse when they stranded eight runners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings combined. They trailed by one at that point, and it would have been easy to throw in the towel and call the game a lost cause.

But they didn’t.

“Good teams will grind for nine innings,” Braves manager Scott Landers said. “I think that’s what we did, and I think we’re a good ball club. We just couldn’t do it [in the middle innings]. I didn’t know it was eight left on. That’s a lot. But it happens in baseball, and I’m proud of our guys for sticking in there.”

They kept the line moving in the eighth inning, and finally broke through thanks to some timely hits and shoddy Orleans defense. It wound up being a four-spot, which evaporated the earlier struggles into dust and handed Bourne a 6-5 win over the Firebirds at Doran Park.

“I think they had a good game plan against us,” Landers said. “They strategically intentionally walked some of our righties to get to the lefties, and it worked out. They had a lot of good left-on-left pitchers out there. I’m proud of our guys for staying in there and sticking with it, and getting it at the end.”

Braves pitcher Marcus Morgan got off to an erratic start in the first inning, which began with a single and an error. He then issued three straight walks, with a whopping five wild pitches interspersed among the plate appearances to give Orleans a 2-0 lead. Morgan couldn’t find the strike zone early on, and got a visit from Landers on a 2-0 count.

“Just relax,” Landers said of what he told Morgan. “It’s his game. Take a breath and reset, and just get out of this inning.”

Morgan settled down and managed to end the frame with just the two runs, due to both his composure and Orleans’ sloppy baserunning. Eddie Micheletti Jr. didn’t score from third on a single, thinking the ball might be caught by center fielder Chris Stanfield. The Firebirds almost ran into a force out at second as well. Morgan got out of additional trouble with a double play ball to Jonathan Vastine, taking advantage of Orleans’ baserunning woes to keep the inning from becoming even more disastrous.

Morgan issued another walk to lead off the second inning. But he got out of it with a pair of strikeouts, along with another baserunning mistake as Henry Hunter tried to go from first to third on a bunt single.

Bourne scratched out a couple runs to tie it in the bottom of the second, despite another load of wackiness. Josh Kuroda-Grauer reached on an error, then scored the first run on a Bryce Eblin single. But the Braves made a baserunning mistake of their own, with Eblin getting thrown out trying to turn it into a double.

Still, Pete Ciuffreda kept things going with a single, then stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. With two outs, Stanfield came up with a clutch RBI single, making it a 2-2 game after all the ugliness that preceded. In fitting fashion, the inning ended on a pickoff.

To recap, the first two innings of Saturday’s game saw the teams combine for seven hits, four walks, a hit by pitch, two errors, six wild pitches and four baserunning blunders.

Morgan continued to deal with traffic throughout the rest of his outing. He worked around five baserunners in the next three innings to keep the game tied, showing nasty stuff when he could keep it in the vicinity of the strike zone. Catcher Caden Bodine said Morgan told him his cutter was his go-to pitch, so they started leaning on it more.

But after Morgan walked the first two batters in the fifth, his evening came to an end. He ultimately walked seven and hit a batter in four-plus innings of work, continuing a trend that’s been an issue for him at Iowa.

“It’s tough out here, because you don’t see these guys all year,” Landers said. “And we weren’t on the same page — him and Bodine and myself. And I’ll take the blame for that.”

Reliever Matthew McShane surrendered a double to put the Firebirds back on top. But he buckled down in a tight situation, stranding two in scoring position to keep the Braves’ deficit within a run.

The Braves kept getting baserunners and kept not scoring in the mid-to-late innings. They loaded the bases with two outs in the fifth and sixth, but neither Garrett Michel nor Jonathan Vastine could come through against left-handers Derek Clark or Riley Frey.

McShane survived a leadoff double in the seventh and completed his third scoreless inning of work. He settled in nicely after giving up the go-ahead double in the fifth, which Landers admitted was a bad call on his part.

“He actually executed it; it just wasn’t a good pitch call,” Landers said. “But he settled in and pitched three outstanding innings.”

The Braves’ offense still couldn’t get over the hump yet. Bodine recorded his third hit of the game, and Kuroda-Grauer was intentionally walked for his third free pass of the game. Eblin drove a ball 349 feet, but it was caught in center, stranding two more runners.

Braves reliever Brady Afthim allowed Orleans to score an insurance run in the eighth. He issued Bourne’s ninth walk of the night and surrendered a two-out RBI single.

But after a night of frustration, it took just a few hits and some more ugly play to completely flip the narrative.

The Braves’ bats wasted no time coming alive in the bottom of the eighth, with three consecutive singles from Ciuffreda, Gage Harrelson and Stanfield trimming the deficit to 4-3. Harrelson came in as the tying run on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Bodine came up with the infield in and lined one past the shortstop. It was ruled an error, but it gave Bourne the lead in any case.

“I need to put this ball in play. I’m not striking out,” Bodine said of his approach. “I didn’t, and I put the ball in play and a good thing happened.”

Michel added an RBI single for good measure, which proved to be crucial as Afthim allowed another run in the ninth. Jack Sullivan got the final three outs and shut the door on the wild 6-5 victory.

“It shows a lot about us. It shows a lot about our coaching staff,” Bodine said. “We put a lot of work in, and it’s paying off.”

The Braves, now 10-8-1 and 9-3 in their last 12, will go back on the road Sunday to face the Falmouth Commodores at 6 p.m.