Commodores Down Cotuit Behind Strong Effort from Thornhill

Reliever Nathan Thornhill was excellent in a spot start for Falmouth on Friday night, pitching seven shutout innings to out-duel Cotuit's Kyle Zimmer and get the Commodores back on track after two straight losses. The offense was absent through the first six innings for both teams, but Falmouth finally took the lead in the seventh, and never relinquished it.

Falmouth broke through with two runs in the seventh, all they'd need for the win. Zimmer gave up a single to Jake Rodriguez to lead off the inning, then gave way to reliever Kendall Graveman. After Max White laid down a sacrifice that pushed Garcia to second, Graveman failed to find the plate on his first three pitches to Barrett Barnes, finally walking him with an intentional ball four. Jared King, Spencer Kieboom, and Eric Garcia followed with three straight singles, and the Commodores played station-to-station baseball on all three, netting two runs before Graveman retired Billy Ferriter and Jack Marder to end the inning.

Thornhill went seven strong, striking out six, walking one, and yielding only four hits, before handing the ball to Nate Koneski. Alex Yarbrough, pinch hitting for Ryon Healy, led off the Cotuit eighth with a double, but Koneski came back to retire the next two batters. With the dangerous Victor Roach coming to the plate, Falmouth closer John Simms, who still has yet to surrender an earned run on the year, took the mound. Roach is among the league leaders in average, home runs, and RBI, but Falmouth pitching held him hitless on Friday, including the weak ground ball Simms induced to end the threat in the eighth.

Simms was perfect in the ninth, polishing off the last three hitters of his four-out appearance to earn his seventh save of the season, and secure the win for Falmouth.

Next up for the Commodores is a trip to Orleans on Saturday, where they'll look to continue the momentum against the Firebirds at Eldredge Park.