Commodores Bring Big Bats to Bourne

Five hitless innings from spot starter Tyler Duffey and a grand slam by all-star Jeremy Baltz carried Falmouth to a win in the finale of the season series with Bourne at Doran Park on Sunday evening. The win, and the simultaneous loss by the Wareham Gatemen, brought the Commodores to within one win of third place in the Western Division.

Falmouth started the scoring in the top of the second with a leadoff home run by Max White, his team-leading fourth of the season. Bourne starter Chris Pickering quickly got out of the inning, but bigger things were in store for the next.

Eric Garcia led off the top of the third with a single, and Pickering suddenly became unable to take the outs the Commodores were offering in the next two at bats, as Billy Ferriter and Jake Rodriguez both reached safely when the pitcher mishandled two consecutive sacrifice bunt attempts. With the bases loaded and no one out, Baltz quickly removed any hope of Pickering wriggling out of the jam, clearing the bases, and the outfield fence, with his blast to left on the second pitch of the at bat.

White followed with a single, and moved to second on Barrett Barnes' tapper back to the mound. White would eventually score on a two-out single by Jared King, bringing Falmouth's total to six runs, more than enough.

Meanwhile, Duffey was providing the Braves with base runners, though not with hits. The reliever, filling a vacancy in the rotation with a spot start, walked five batters in the same number of innings, but had yet to surrender a hit when he was pulled before the bottom of the sixth due to pitch-count concerns.

Andrew Aizenstadt took over, giving up two runs on three hits in three innings of work before giving way to Andrew Smith, who allowed one run on two hits in the ninth. Bourne scored one run in each of the last three innings, making the game look closer than it was but never getting within striking distance of the Commodores, who didn't score again after their five-run third.

Falmouth travels to Orleans on Monday night, looking to snap the Firebirds' five-game win streak.