If nothing else, the Falmouth Commodores sure are making the end of the regular season interesting. Needing help in several ways to earn a playoff spot, everything broke the right way for the local entrant in the Cape Cod Baseball League last night as the Commodores continued a late-season charge to the postseason.

     With just three games left to go, the Commodores need help to make it into the postseason, but at this point, anything is possible. Falmouth, which improved to 20-20-1 overall after its fourth straight win last night over visiting Wareham, is now just two points out of second place in the Cape League standings with three games left to go (see accompanying story).

     Knowing that Wednesday night’s game was the biggest of the season thus far, the Commodores responded in spades. The offense lit up all-star Wade LeBlanc (Alabama) from the get-go as the tough lefty would last only into the third.

     Needing a solid outing on the hill, all-star Dallas Buck (Oregon State) came up with his best game of the year as he threw seven shutout innings and cruised to his second win of the season. Buck gave up a single to Whit Robbins (Georgia Tech) in the first inning and then settled into a groove, setting down the next eight men in a row before Robbins singled his next time. 

     The only jam that Buck ever found himself in came in the sixth, when the Gatemen loaded the bases. At that point his team had staked him to an eight-run lead and the right-hander simply battled back to get a strikeout and a flyout to put out the fire.

     Falmouth’s Shelby Ford (Oklahoma State) did the bulk of the damage for the Commodores at the plate as he had three extra-base hits, two home runs, scored three times and drove in four. He went 3-for-3 overall and was hit by a pitch in his last at-bat.

     In the first Ford homered to give Falmouth a quick 3-0 lead. With Matt Antonelli (Wake Forest) on first and Jon Still (NC State) on second, Ford lined a home run over the left field fence to give the Commodores the early advantage.

     In the second inning the home team added another run. Antonelli hit a one-out double to the gap in right-center, stole third and scored on a sacrifice fly to left by Mark Hamilton (Tulane).

     In the third Ford struck again. The Commodores’ second baseman hit a deep homer over the left field fence to make it 5-0 as he led the frame off. 

     Three more Falmouth runs scored in the fifth as the Commodores blew it wide open. With two down, Ford doubled and stole third. Warren McFadden (Tulane) then followed with a walk and then Greg Alexander (William Carey) smoked a liner up the middle to score Ford. Brian Bocock (Stetson) then reached on an error when his pop-up was dropped, allowing another run to score.

     The Wareham relief pitcher then threw the ball away attempting to pick off Bocock, which plated the eighth Falmouth run. Falmouth scored one more run in the seventh, and that was also aided by a miscue by the Gatemen as Wareham shortstop Lance Zawadski (San Diego State) committed his league-high 25th error of the year.

     On a night where the Commodores scored nine runs, only four players collected hits, but those four all had big nights. Antonelli was 2-for-4 with two runs and a double. Ford was 3-for-3 with the two homers, a double, three runs scored and four RBI. McFadden was 2-for-3 and scored two and Alexander was 3-for-4 with a run and a RBI. 

     The Commodores are in action today at Hyannis at 5 PM. They play their final home game tomorrow, against Bourne, at 5:30 PM. Then they wrap the season up at Yarmouth-Dennis on Sunday at 4:30 PM.