Commodores Tie in Ninth, Win in Tenth in Game One at Wareham

Falmouth was held scoreless through game one of the Western Conference finals at Wareham on Wednesday night until, with two outs in the ninth, a full count, and the tying run on second base, Jared King sent a single straight up the middle to score Jeremy Baltz and give the Commodores new life, which they made the most of in the tenth.

Trailing 1-0 entering the ninth, Reid Redman led off with a single to right, and was erased when Baltz grounded to third for a fielder's choice. Baltz beat out the double play, and went to second on a wild pitch, then raced home on King's clutch hit.

Falmouth starter Sean Hagan dueled with his Wareham counterpart Jake Boyd through five scoreless innings, until giving way to Nate Koneski to begin the sixth. Koneski surrendered Wareheam's run on a double by Rob Refsnyder and an RBI single by Johnny Field, but escaped the sixth without further harm.

DeAndre Smelter took over for Falmouth in the seventh, and provided three huge scoreless innings, allowing the Commodores to stay in the game, even as Boyd continued to shut them down. Boyd gave up just four hits and one walk through his eight dominating innings, striking out six.

Boyd gave way to Wareham closer Konner Wade to start the top of the ninth, who was looking to compliment his 12 saves and 1.33 ERA in the regular season with a strong playoff run. But Falmouth rallied, glad to see anyone but Boyd take the hill.

Smelter carried the momentum into the bottom of the ninth, retiring the Gatemen 1-2-3, forcing extras.

In the tenth, the game was all Falmouth's, as the Commodores' bats were suddenly working overtime. Spencer Kieboom led off with a double, Eric Garcia walked, and Ferriter reached on a bunt base hit which was originally intended as a sacrifice. With the bases loaded, Redman hit a grounder that could have turned into a double play ball, but instead rolled between the legs of shortstop Mott Hyde and into center field, allowing two runs to score. Baltz followed with a grounder that brought home Ferriter, and put the score at 4-1 in Falmouth's favor.

All-star closer John Simms came on in the bottom of the tenth, and left little room for drama, striking out the first two batters he faced before inducing a routine grounder from LJ Mazzilli to complete Falmouth's theft of game one of the best-of-three series.

The Commodores return home to Guv Fuller Field for game two on Thursday night. With a win, Falmouth could secure a trip to the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series against the Harwich Mariners.