Commodores Wallop Wareham to Win West

Fresh off a thrilling win in game one of the Western Division finals in Wareham on Wednesday, the Commodores carried their momentum back home to for Thursday's game two, and produced a decisive victory that sent them to the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series.

Falmouth starter Andrew Heaney earned his first win of the playoffs with seven scoreless innings, in the process lowering his postseason ERA to 2.31. Wareham's offense scored just one run in the series' 19 combined innings, an indicator of the quality of a Falmouth pitching staff which was the team's main strength during the regular season, and has seemingly gone into another gear in the playoffs.

Falmouth's offense, too, is playing its best baseball at just the right time. On Thursday, the Commodores spent the first two innings getting to know Wareham starter Luke Farrell, and the third putting that knowledge to good use, scoring five runs.

Reid Redman, an indispensable igniter so far in Falmouth's playoff run, began the inning with a single to center field. Jeremy Baltz followed with a weak but well-placed infield chopper which, ominously for Wareham, went untouched, putting men on first and second.

An even better indicator of the direction of the inning was Jake Rodriguez at bat, which saw Rodriguez inadvertently work the count full while trying to put down a sacrifice bunt before roping a double down the left field line. With one run in and two men in scoring position, Barrett Barnes grounded out to short to bring Baltz in.

Max White shattered his bat, but still managed to dump the ball into left-center for another run. Spencer Kieboom dropped another single just in front of the sliding center fielder to plate another, and drive Farrell from the mound.

His replacement, Daniel Feehan, struggled his way out of the inning, but not before allowing both inherited runners to score on back-to-back RBI singles by Eric Garcia and Billy Ferriter. Redman, who'd started the inning with his second at bat of the game, ended it with his third, a grounder to third base.

Falmouth added another run in the eighth, on back-to-back two-out doubles by Baltz and Rodriguez. It was Rodriguez's second RBI double of the night.

Only one Falmouth reliever, Taylor Sandefur, was needed after Heaney's seven innings. Sandefur polished off the Gatemen with two scoreless innings in which he struck out two.

Heaney's and Sandefur's strong performances, and Falmouth's offensive showing, allowed the Commodores to rest most of their bullpen, which has been active in the playoffs so far. All-star closer John Simms in particular worked an inning on each of the last two days, and should now be rested for the start of the championship series.

That series begins on Friday night, when the Commodores travel to Harwich to play the Mariners, winners of the Eastern Division pennant. The best-of-three series will shift to Guv Fuller Field on Saturday night for game two. Falmouth is 2-1 on the road so far in the playoffs, and undefeated at home.