Wareham’s Postseason Berth Put on Hold as Commodores Roll
August 1, 2017 7:54 pm | by Andrew Lang
Wareham’s Postseason Berth Put on Hold as Commodores Roll
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Clayton Daniel’s leadoff blast was just sign of things to come on Tuesday night for the Gatemen.
In an effort to clinch their third consecutive playoff berth, the Gatemen saw the Falmouth Commodores come in to Spillane Field and breakout for 12 runs as the Falmouth handedly defeated Wareham, 12-1.
Wareham’s loss combined with Hyannis’ win over Harwich means the Gatemen will have to win at least one more day to solidify their playoff positioning. The Gatemen’s magic number heading into Wednesday will once again stand at one.
Falmouth scored in each of the first four innings putting up one in the first, one in the second, two in the third, and three in the fourth en route to taking the fourth game against the Gatemen this season.
Defensively, the Gatemen struggled as they committed a pair of errors – including a dropped fly ball – fired home a pair of wild pitches, and compiled two passed balls.
For the third straight game Wareham played with just nine position players. Wareham is expected to receive three additional position players tomorrow.
Gatemen coach Don Sneddon said the performance by the team was simply ugly.
“It can become mental when you struggle against a team over and over again,” said Sneddon. “We could come out tomorrow though and it could be a 1-0 game. That’s just the way it goes.”
Justin Montgomery, making his seventh start of the season, struggled for his second consecutive outing. The Cal Baptist product allowed four runs, three earned, over three innings of work.
Daniel got the night started for the Commodores with a solo shot to left, and one inning later the Commodores offense went back to work.
Adley Rutschman walked, moved to second on a wild pitch, and Hunter Steinmetz drilled a double into the left centerfield gap to make it 2-0 Falmouth.
Commodores starter Cody Shelton kept Wareham off the board over the first two frames, giving Falmouth the opportunity to blow the game open in the middle innings.
In the top half of the third Austin Langworthy led off with a walk, and advanced to second on a Trevor Larnach single. The pair eventually came around to score on an RBI single by Joshua Breaux and a 4-6-3 double play ball.
“It all starts with pitching and we had none of it tonight,” said Sneddon. “We’ve been a little worried about Montgomery confidence wise and tonight that problem re-appeared. That happens and we’ll come back out tomorrow.
Falmouth finally put the game out of reach in the top of the fourth with a three run frame.
Rutschman walked, moved to third on a Steinmetz double and came home to score on a wild pitch to make it 5-0 Commodores.
The inning continued when, after Langworthy walked, Larnach drilled a two run double into the right centerfield gap to hand Falmouth an insurmountable 7-0 lead.
Chris Weiss, John Murphy, and Darrien Ragins all made their Wareham debuts on the mound with the game well in hand.
Weiss pitched a 1-2-3 top of the seventh, while Murphy let up a solo home run. Ragins was undoubtedly the highlight of the three, showing a funky delivery from the left-hand side.
The Delaware State product tossed a scoreless ninth allowing two hits and striking out one.
Wareham’s lone run of the night came in the bottom of the ninth as Jarren Duran singled and came around to score on a groundout off the bat of John Toppa
Next Up: Wareham heads to Bourne to begin a home-and-home series with the Braves. First pitch is scheduled for 6pm.
