The Bourne Braves remain in the hunt for the top spot in the Western Division, trailing the Hyannis Mets by a game. The Braves brought a three-game losing streak to an end Wednesday with a 5-4 victory over Wareham.

A leadoff triple in the bottom of the ninth by Stephen Batts (East Carolina) and a single down the right field line from the bat of Marc Krauss (Ohio University) put away the Gateman. Bourne closer Eric Pettis (UC Irvine) pitched the final inning and a third for Bourne and earning his second win of the season.

Wareham posted a run in the top of the third and it remained 1-0 until the sixth when the Braves struck for two runs. Bourne scored two more in the seventh to take a 4-1 lead, but three Wareham runs in the top of the eighth knotted the score at 4-all.
Bourne managed just six hits against Wareham pitching, with the decisive shot coming off the bat of Krauss to drive in Batts in the bottom of the ninth.

Chatham’s Jake Thompson (Long Beach State) tied the Braves in knots Tuesday night tossing six scoreless innings and striking out six in an 8-0 victory for the Athletics.

Ricky Bowen (Mississippi State) got the start for Bourne allowing a run in the first and four more in the fifth before being replaced by Nate Reed (Pittsburg). Reed tossed a scoreless sixth, but things turned grim for Bourne in the seventh as Chatham knocked Justin Grimm (University of Georgia) around for three runs on three hits.

The Braves managed six hits against Athletics pitching, but couldn’t come up with the big knock when they needed it as they stranded 10 base runners.
Kyle Roller (East Carolina) and Tyler Cannon (Virginia) each had two hits for Bourne.

An eighth-inning rally fell short on Sunday for the Braves as they lost 3-2 to Orleans. Kyle Smith (Kent State) held the Braves to one hit over the first six innings, with that hit not coming until the fifth inning when Justin Henry (Mississippi) singled to left. Smith struck out eight.

Nathan Baker (Mississippi) got the start for Bourne and went four frames allowing two runs on five hits with one of the Orlean’s runs unearned.

The Braves got things going with two outs in the eighth with four successive singles from Ross Wilson (Alabama), Dusty Coleman (Wichita State), Krauss and Brad Stephenson (Norfolk State) knocking Cardinals reliever Brad Gremberling (Princeton) from the game. Justin Earls (Georgia) took over from Gremberling and after hitting Roller to load the bases got the next Bourne batter to fly out.

Bob Revesz (Louisville), who tossed two frames in relief of Baker was tagged with the loss. Bourne managed only five hits against Orleans pitching and stranded eight base runners.

Brewster beat up the Braves by a score of 10-6 on Saturday. Kevin Landry (William & Mary) got the start for Bourne and lasted three innings giving up a run on eight hits. Matt Petition (Tulane) pitched two innings allowing two unearned runs.

Leading 4-2 after five innings Victor Black (Dallas Baptist) took over in the sixth for the Braves and ran into trouble right away surrendering a two-run home run to Whitecaps’ designated hitter Brent Milleville (Stanford). Black stayed on the hill for the final four frames allowing seven runs on eight hits and getting tagged with the loss.

Pitcher of the Week Honors

Bourne right-hander Bryce Stowell (UC Irvine) came within two outs of pitching a complete-game shutout Friday night against Wareham, and the performance earned him Coca-Cola Pitcher of the Week honors for the seven-day period ending July 12. The 6-2, 205-pound native of La Habra, California, now boasts the Cape Cod Baseball League’s lowest ERA (0.36) as of Friday after working 26 innings, in which he struck out 31 batters, walked only five, and scattered 10 hits. In his 2-0 victory over Wareham, he struck out eight, did not walk a batter, and doled out seven hits. Stowell was 8-3 with a 3.26 ERA at UC Irvine this spring as a sophomore. In 88.1 innings spread over 16 appearances, he struck out 101 batters and allowed just 36 bases on balls. Last summer, following a redshirt year in college, he compiled a 1-5 record with the Hyannis Mets, but showed signs of brilliance by striking out 44 batters in 38.2 innings, while walking only 13.