Hawks Edge Commodores in First Game of Playoff-Preview Double Header

Falmouth pitching was solid through six innings in the abbreviated first game of a double header at Hyannis on Wednesday afternoon, but the Harbor Hawks hurlers were even better, combining to hold the Commodores scoreless and allow Hyannis to squeak through with a 1-0 victory in the first game of the last day of the Cape Cod Baseball League regular season.

Falmouth starter Andrew Aizenstadt was in and out of trouble from the beginning, having to pitch with men on base in all four of his innings of work, but he managed to wriggle out of each jam. Ian Gardeck, taking over for Aizenstadt to start the fifth, surrendered a one-out single to Cal Towey, but quickly erased the runner, and ended the inning by inducing Eric Stamets to ground into a double play.

Meanwhile, the Commodores had their chances too, but never came up with the big hit in the right spot. Hyannis starter Scott Firth walked the leadoff man in each of the first two innings, but both Billy Ferriter, in the first, and Barrett Barnes, in the second, were erased during the next at bat—Ferriter on a double play, Barnes on Firth's pickoff throw to first.

Dean McCardle came on to relieve Firth with two down in the second, and went on to throw 2.1 hitless innings. His replacement, Kyle Kraus, ran into more turbulence in his two innings, but came out unscathed. In the fifth, Falmouth put men on first and third with only one out with a double by Jared King and a single by Spencer Kieboom. RJ Santigate struck out, and, with Shane Rowland at the plate, Kieboom was caught stealing to end the rally.

That cost the Commodores, because, on the very first pitch he saw in the sixth, Rowland ripped a double to the wall in left-center—a ball which, had it come one pitch earlier during Rowland's fifth-inning appearance, would likely have scored both runners.

Hyannis finally broke through with a solo home run by Dan Gulbransen to lead off the seventh and final inning.

Though the game was played in Hyannis, it was a make-up of a rainout originally scheduled to be played in Falmouth, so the Commodores were technically the home team, and they still had one final chance in the bottom of the seventh. The tying run got as far as second when King doubled with one out, but strikeouts by Kieboom and Rowland ended the threat, and the game.

Seeing a lot of each other lately, the two teams still had the second game of the double header to play on Wednesday before beginning the first round of the playoffs against one another in Hyannis on Friday.