Commodores Go Down Fighting, Mariners Claim Championship

Falmouth never stopped battling in the deciding game two of the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series at Guv Fuller Field on Saturday night, but Harwich's offensive attack was overwhelming, and the wild back-and-forth game ended with the Mariners the champions of the CCBL.

The Commodores wasted no time getting the offense started. Billy Ferriter led off the bottom of the first with an infield single, advancing to second when the ball deflected off the second baseman's glove for the first of three Harwich errors. Reid Redman sacrificed Ferriter to third, and Jeremy Baltz singled through the left side to bring him in with the game's first run.

Harwich answered in the top of the second. After the Mariners loaded the bases with one out on a single and a pair of walks, Alex Swim grounded weakly to short, allowing the 6-4 fielder's choice but hustling down the line to avoid the inning-ending, and run-saving, double play.

With the score tied, and the bases loaded again after another walk, manager Jeff Trundy pulled starter Andrew Aizenstadt in favor of Nathan Thornhill. Trundy couldn't afford to let Aizenstadt work through his control issues with Falmouth's season hanging in the balance, so the starter left with an abbreviated line of one run on three hits and three walks in just 1.2 innings. It could've looked a lot uglier, if Thornhill hadn't gotten Darnell Sweeney to line out to center, ending the inning and stranding all three inherited runners.

Thornhill was an important piece of Falmouth's strong pitching staff during the regular season, when he pitched to a 1.11 ERA in combined bullpen and rotation work. But on Saturday night, he could do little to quiet Harwich's offensive barrage.

The Mariners scored two runs in the top of the third, the first on a ringing RBI double to the center field wall by Austin Wilson, the second, after Mike Garza had singled Wilson to third, on a John Wooten sacrifice fly. Thornhill escaped the inning with a timely double play, and Falmouth came back strong in the bottom half.

Redman started the Falmouth third with a single to left-center, and took second on a wild pitch during a fine plate appearance by Baltz, who eventually worked a walk after being down 0-2. Jake Rodriguez followed with a sacrifice bunt attempt that was so bad it was good, eliciting a wild play from the shaky Harwich defense.

Rodriguez's bunt popped over Harwich starter Jake Davies' head, somehow finding grass amidst the drawn-in infield. Realizing first base was no longer an option, Davies scrambled to recover the ball and flip it to third, but it got past the third baseman and rolled far into foul territory. Falmouth got one run out of the sequence, though both Redman and Baltz were able to cross the plate before the dust settled. The umpires ruled the ball dead, awarding home to Redman but calling Baltz back to third. Rodriguez also reached second on the play.

Barrett Barnes delivered a sacrifice fly to center deep enough to not only score Baltz from third, but move Rodriguez there to take his place. Two batters later, Max White singled to bring him in, and give Falmouth back the lead.

After a quiet fourth—the first frame in which neither team scored—Harwich reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth. With one out, Wilson walked, and was quickly erased on a 1-4 fielder's choice, which could've been the first half of an inning-ending double play. But Rodriguez's throw to first was in the dirt, and Barnes couldn't scoop it to complete the play. That proved costly, as the next batter, Wooten, cracked a two-run homer to put the score at 5-4.

Falmouth fought back in the bottom of the sixth, when Caleb Reed, who'd replaced Davies on the mound, gave up two straight one-out singles to put runners on first and third, then gave way to Grant Gordon. Baltz took Gordon's first pitch down the right-field line for an RBI single, and the score was tied again.

DeAndre Smelter took over for Thornhill to start the top of the seventh, but was ineffective, surrendering a leadoff walk and an RBI double by Davies (who'd stayed in the game as the Harwich designated hitter). All-star closer John Simms took over, allowing Davies to score on a Garza single to left. The score stood at 7-5, and that was where it would stay.

Falmouth had plenty of chances in the last three innings, but couldn't manage the key hit that would've changed the game yet again. The bases were loaded with Commodores in both the seventh and ninth, besides a first-and-second, two-out rally in the eighth, but Harwich's bullpen wriggled out of trouble each time. Blake Hauser and Chris Overman, who combined to handle the last 2.2 innings, bent but did not break, and Falmouth's season ended on a Rodriguez pop foul to the catcher, and a Mariners championship celebration on Guv Fuller Field.