Commodores score 2 in the seventh, defeat Gatemen 5-3
July 27, 2018 8:42 pm | by Andrew Lang
Commodores score 2 in the seventh, defeat Gatemen 5-3
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WAREHAM – In the Cape Cod Baseball League, teams are usually evenly matched. With so much top tier Division 1 talent to go around, it’s not surprising that the 10 teams in the league are all very competitive with one another.
For example, the Gatemen’s longest winning streak this season has been four games. Their longest losing streak has been just two. It’s hard to pull away or really fall into a tough stretch.
Thursday night’s game between the Falmouth Commodores and Wareham Gatemen reminded fans just how highly competitive these games are and just how close these two teams are with one another.
Entering play, Falmouth sat in third place just four points behind Wareham. In the four times these two teams have played each other this summer, Falmouth had won twice, and Wareham had won twice. The combined score of those four games? That would be two touchdowns apiece, 14-14.
After playing a tight contest for most of the night, the Commodores pulled away from the Gatemen in the seventh inning to win by a score of 5-3.
Falmouth scored two runs in the seventh inning to break a 3-3 tie, a score that had held up since the third inning. Cam Cannon played hero for the Commodores when he singled off Jared Horn with two away to score the go ahead run as well as an insurance run.
Jared Horn took the loss last night in a 5-3 game after surrendering two runs to score in the seventh (via Caroline O’Connor).
“We just got outhit in that one inning,” Don Sneddon said. “I thought Horn did a great job of coming back and shutting them down and keeping us it in, very happy with that part.”
Jared Horn was the hard luck loser for Wareham as he pitched a season-high five innings despite taking the loss. Horn allowed the two runs to score in the seventh and pitched four other scoreless innings. In total, he allowed three hits and just one walk. Horn also struck out six hitters on the night to raise to his strikeout total to 35 over 25 innings of work.
“Jared was sharper than ever,” Gatemen catcher Drew Millas said. “Those guys were seeing the ball well, swinging it well. Jared still came after them and did what he needed to do.”
The second of the two runs the Commodores scored in the seventh came on a controversial call at the plate.
With runners on second and third and two away, Cannon hit the aforementioned single to left which easily scored Austin Langworthy from third making it a 4-3 Falmouth lead.
As Kyle Stowers rounded third for Falmouth on the same play, Jakob Goldfarb fired a perfect strike from left field for Wareham and his throw reached Millas on a hop in plenty of time to tag out Stowers.
Millas caught the ball and applied the tag for what appeared to be the final out of the inning. Instead, the home plate umpire, Tom Carey, asked Millas to show him the ball.
Millas proceeded to show Carey the ball, but Cary ruled Stowers was safe because Millas bobbled the ball and did not have total possession.
“I had the ball in my right hand after I transferred it and I put it back into my glove and went for a two-handed tag,” Millas said. “The kid slid right into it and the ump said show me the ball and I took the ball out of my glove and he said I bobbled it after I took it out of my glove.”
Sneddon went out to argue the call, but it was to no avail. The call stood and Falmouth led 5-3.
The hit for Cannon was his second on the night which extended his hitting streak to 11-straight games and 12-straight if you include his 1-2 effort in the All-Star Game. The single also bumped up Cannon’s RBI total to three on the night.
Prior to scoring off Horn in the seventh, the Commodores scored their first three runs of the night off Gatemen start Will Proctor.
Proctor, who had faced Falmouth twice already this season, turned in his least successful start against them despite putting his team in a position to win the game.
“I thought they did well. They kept a good club at bay,” Sneddon said about his two pitchers.
“I don’t think Proctor threw his best, but he battled once again. If you don’t have 100 percent, then you have to throw with what you’ve got. He gave 100 percent of what he had. He could have easily collapsed but he pitched a tough four innings and kept us in the game.”
In his previous two outings versus the Commodores, Proctor had combined to throw 8.2 IP in those outings and had given up just two runs. Tonight, Proctor surrendered three runs over four innings of work off a season-high allowed eight hits.
“Will was sharp. A lot of it was on me with the pitch calling. They were finding barrels and I wasn’t mixing it up and attacking as much as I normally do with Will,” Millas said.
On the offensive side, the Gatemen offense was held in check after the first two innings. Wareham scored three runs on five hits within the first two innings of play, but they would record just three hits over the final seven innings of play.
“We are not a great hitting club. We just need everybody to pitch in. I think we only walked once and that’s a big difference, so we didn’t have a lot of base runners on. We were getting hits at the wrong time,” Sneddon said.
Millas, who had three knocks on the night, was one of two bright spots in the lineup for the Gatemen. Ryan Kreidler also produced two hits to go along with an RBI single.
Pat McGowan, Logan Rinehart, and Jack Little were the trio of pitchers who successfully shutdown the Wareham offense last night. McGowan went six strong innings to record his second win in his last two starts. Rinehart got the hold as he pitched two perfect innings, and Little came on for the ninth to record his fourth save of the summer.
Following this game, the Gatemen square off with the Commodores for the final time of the regular season tonight. The matchup on Friday will be the rubber match of this makeshift series as Wareham took game one with Falmouth winning in this one.
“That’s what these guys are used to playing in college: three game series. So, we have to win this next game to try and win the series,” Sneddon said.
“In pro ball, it’s usually a three or four game series and its fun doing that. You know how to play the guys and pitch the guys a little better. I expect another dog fight tomorrow. I don’t expect anything to be different.”
Final: Commodores 5, Gatemen 3
W- Pat McGowan (6 IP, 3 R, 2 K, 7 H, 1 BB)
L- Jared Horn (5 IP, 2 R, 6 K, 3 H, 2 BB)
S- Jack Little (1 IP, 0 R, 3 K, 1H)
Next up: The Gatemen (21-16-1) once again play the Falmouth Commodores (20-17-1) at home Friday night at Spillane Field. First pitch at 6:30 p.m.
