Six-Run Second Dooms Bourne in 8-7 Loss to Cotuit

By Mojo Hill

A day after squeezing out a gritty comeback victory, the Bourne Braves fell on the wrong side of a close one at Doran Park. They dropped an 8-7 matchup to the Cotuit Kettleers on Wednesday, as they couldn’t overcome a six-run second inning despite fighting back the whole way through.

“The pivotal point in a game like that is when you put up four, and then you return six to them right off the bat,” Braves manager Scott Landers said. “You put a goose egg up right there, and the game is probably ours. We’ll keep rolling. But when we had the momentum, we couldn’t keep it for very long.”

Cotuit struck first against Henry Weycker on an RBI double in the first inning. Jonathan Vastine turned a nice fielder’s choice out at third, but Cotuit’s double scored the runner all the way from first.

The Braves quickly punched right back with a four-spot in the bottom of the first. Vastine smacked a hustle double, and his speed paid off as he got all the way to third on an error by the center fielder. He scored on a Sam Petersen groundout to knot it up at one apiece.

Bryce Eblin then extended his hitting streak to nine with another single, and Kendall Diggs lined a go-ahead two-run hit. Nu’u Contrades stayed hot with an RBI single of his own, Bourne’s fourth straight baserunner to make it a 4-1 game. It took 35 minutes altogether for the teams to get through the first inning.

The Kettleers kept romping in the second inning. They outdid the Braves’ four-spot by putting up six, swaying the seesaw back in the other direction. They loaded the bases with one out, and a three-run triple by Cole Mathias tied it up. Mathis scored on an RBI groundout to put Cotuit in front.

After two straight walks and a passed ball, Weycker surrendered a two-run single to deepen the already-gaping wound. His outing ended after 1 2/3 innings with Bourne losing 7-4. He allowed four hits, four walks and six earned runs. Left-hander Zach Grace recorded a strikeout to end the frame.

“I actually thought he was throwing to a minuscule strike zone,” Landers said of Weycker’s performance. “But he was kind of all over the place in the first inning and the second inning. He didn’t have his good stuff tonight. But it happens. He’lll be fine. We’ll get him on track.”

The game sped up after the first inning and a half took almost an hour. The Braves scratched one out in the bottom of the third, as Caden Bodine and Eblin repeated their first-inning performance by walking and singling, respectively. Eblin came home on a Contrades groundout to cut the deficit to 7-5.

Grace threw a scoreless third and fourth before surrendering a solo homer in the fifth. He struck out four and walked one in 3 1/3 solid innings of relief. It was a nice second outing after he struggled in his Bourne debut.

“He commanded better tonight than he did the other night against Falmouth,” Landers said. “He got his breaking ball over; his fastball. One mistake was the home run that he left middle-middle, but other than that he threw great.”

The Braves got one back in the bottom of the fourth, though they had chances for more in the fourth and fifth. Bodine’s third walk of the night drove in a run with the bases loaded, but Eblin hit into an inning-ending double play. After the first two Braves batters reached in the fifth, Contrades ran into a fielder’s choice out at home. Bourne came up empty, still trailing 8-6.

The Braves did get one in the run column in the sixth, as they continued to grind out at-bats. Petersen displayed his typical peskiness on the bases, as he stole second and eventually scored on a fielder’s choice, jumping around the tag from the catcher.

“He does a good job on the bases,” Landers said. “I think he utilizes his speed tool for a strength, which is good.”

Right-hander Trystan Levesque came in for his Bourne debut in the eighth. With audible grunts on every pitch, he swirled through quite an eventful outing. The first three batters reached, loading the bases with nobody out, and Levesque struck out the next three to swoop out of trouble.

“He put himself in the jam, and I was excited to see him get himself out of it,” Landers said.

Levesque fired a scoreless ninth as well, but the Braves’ offense had no response in the final three innings. They struck out twice in each of the seventh, eighth and ninth, and fell by one run in the end.

The Braves will get a day off on Thursday before playing the final six games of the regular season over the next six days. They’re in a comfortable spot to make the playoffs, thought they’re in a tight battle with Falmouth for the No. 3 seed in the West.

“Relax, unwind and get ready for the home stretch,” Landers said.