With temperatures nearing 100 degrees, the Braves made it a little hotter for the Falmouth Commodores who are in a race down to the wire with Wareham for a playoff spot as Bourne took the first game of a Wednesday doubleheader 6-5. The win gave the Braves their eighth win of the season, one more than the Hyannis Mets posted last year and keeps Bourne from sharing the record for fewest games won in a season. Falmouth came back and used four pitchers to no-hit the Braves in the second game, posting a 5-0 victory.

In the opener tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the third, Austin Krum (Dallas Baptist) doubled into centerfield, scoring Brett Bartles, and Andy Goff (Wake Forest) knocked in Krum to give Bourne a 4-2 advantage.

Falmouth picked up a run in the fifth and then added two more in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, with the bases loaded and no outs, Krum and Goff delivered the tying and winning runs.

Krum finished the day 3-for-3 with two doubles, three RBI and a run scored.

Matt Gardner (Oklahoma State) picked up his second win of the season with seven exhausting innings in the excessive heat and humidity, and Mitch Moreland (Mississippi State) pitched to three batters in the ninth to earn the save. Trevor Holder (Georgia) handled a scoreless eighth on the hill for the Braves.

Bourne and Bobby Bell (Rice) appeared to have things under control Tuesday as they reached the sixth inning with a 4-0 lead. A sloppy sixth, however, allowed the Harwich Mariners to score three times on the way to a 5-4 win.

Bell got the ball to start the game and went five and one-third innings, allowing three unearned runs while holding the Mariners to just three hits.
Harwich had their first man of the sixth reach on an error that seemed to open the door for further miscues. The Braves went on to record a passed ball and two wild pitches, and to walk three batters handing the Mariners three quick runs. Harwich tied the game in the eighth and scored the game winner in the bottom of the ninth with the help of back-to-back walks.

Jeff Breedlove (Oklahoma State) and Andrew Carignan (UNC) pitched in relief with Carignan taking the loss.

Bourne out-hit the Mariners 11-10 with Ty Wright (Oklahoma State), Matt Hall (Arizona State), Cat Everett (Tulane), and Adam LaPlante (Wheaton) each finishing with two hits. Mitch Moreland had two RBI both recorded on a first-inning home run to right centerfield, his fourth of the season. 

The Braves struck first Monday when Matt Hall drove in Austin Krum, but Yarmouth-Dennis nailed the equalizer in the bottom of the first when Tyler Henley (Rice) cleared the right field fence with a lead off home run as they claimed a 5-3 victory.

Bourne pulled back in front in the fourth on a solo shot off the bat of Matt Weglarz (Missouri State), but the Red Sox pushed two across in the bottom of the fifth, driving Bourne starter Chris Salberg (Florida Atlantic) from the game. Salberg went five full innings allowing three runs on four hits while striking out five.

Krum and Hall did it again in the top of the seventh with Krum scoring the tying run on a sacrifice fly by Hall. Y-D, however, was not to be denied as they scored again in the seventh and eighth.

Breedlove, who pitched two innings in relief allowing one run, took the loss.

Andy Goff and Cat Everett paced Bourne Sunday in their 3-1 loss to the Hyannis Mets. Everett and Goff both had two hits for the Braves who combined had just six.

Mickey Storey (Florida Atlantic) went seven innings holding the Mets to three runs, but got little support at the plate. Trevor Holder shut down Hyannis in the final two frames.

Hyannis scored all three of their runs in the third and held the lead until Bourne pushed a run across in the eighth. Joe Florio (Indian River) reached on a throwing error advancing to second. He then stole third and crossed the plate on and infield out by Moreland to account for the Bourne run.

David Cash (Florida), Bartles, Carignan, Moreland, and Tom Farmer (Akron) represented Bourne in Saturday’s 44th annual Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game at Red Wilson Field in South Yarmouth. Carignan and farmer pitched scoreless innings, but due to a shortage of pitchers, Western Division All-Star Head Coach Harvey Shapiro was forced to use position players on the mound. Cash and Moreland (who is an experienced pitcher) each threw an inning with Cash allowing four runs and Moreland two. Moreland was tagged with the loss for the West.
“I didn’t like the selection procedure this year,” Shapiro said, “we didn’t have enough pitchers. The scouts are there to see the best pitchers. They’re not there to see positional players pitch, and unfortunately that was the position Kelly (Nicholson) and I were put in.”
Coach Kelly Nicholson of the Orleans Cardinals managed the Eastern Division All-Stars.

“The league has to do something,” Shapiro added. “If a pitcher is selected for the all-star team, he is supposed to pitch an inning.”

The All-Star game proved a disappointment for the estimated 80 scouts in attendance and fans, many of whom were on their way out of Red Wilson Field by the seventh inning. The game was won by a score of 7-2 by the Eastern Division, making it their fourth All-Star game victory in a row.

It was the final Cape League appearance for Cash who then signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Outfielder Joe Florio (Indian River) has joined the Braves for the final games of the season.

Moreland put on a power show, winning the home run hitting contest with 16 fence-clearing blasts in the final round for a total of 25.
“I’m glad for Mitch,” Shapiro said. “Todd Helton and Darin Erstad in 1994 were finalists in the home run hitting contest and I don’t think together they had more than five.”

The Braves won the first game of a double header Friday against Harwich 3-1 led by a complete game by Matt Gardner. In picking up his first win of the summer, Gardner allowed just one unearned run while holding Harwich to four hits.

“Matt pitched very well,” Coach Shapiro said. “It was the best game he has pitched since we lost at Chatham around the second week of the season. It looked like he had his velocity back and he had good command.”

“I felt alright. I’ve been struggling a little bit mechanically,” Gardner said. “It felt good to go out there and throw strikes, first pitch strikes, and that’s what gave me some success early on. The last couple of starts I was falling behind hitters and giving up some hits.”

Gardner throws a fastball, curve, and change-up.

“My fastball and change-up were working most of the time and I was able to get the curve over for strikes. I had a little sink on the fastball,” Gardner added. “It was a hot day, but we all mostly come from Southern states, we’re used to the heat. It was a really nice day.”

For the Braves, it was the first complete game thrown this summer by the pitching staff.

Bourne tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth when Bartles crossed the plate on an Andy Goff base hit. The Braves won it in the eighth on a two-RBI double into right field by Goff.

Bourne dropped the second game 5-2.

With three games remaining in the 2006 season for the Bourne Braves, there will be no let up for the team that has faced an uphill struggle all summer.

“You always wish you’d win a lot more,” Gardner noted. “We’ve lost a lot of close games. It just seems like nothing goes our way. We’ll keep playing hard everyday right to the end, just like we have all season.”

The Braves will play their final home game of the summer tomorrow at 4:30 PM against Wareham. They’ll wrap up the summer Sunday on the road at Spillane Field in Wareham.