By Meredith Perri/Field Reporter
After a first inning where three singles and an error turned into two runs, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks quickly jumped ahead of the Falmouth Commodores Thursday evening at McKeon Park.
For a team that had taken four of the first five games that it had played against Falmouth, and needed a win to remain in sole possession of first place, however, even an early, two-run lead was not enough.
With a five-run inning in tow, the hot-hitting Commodores came back to defeat Hyannis 8-4 and tie the Harbor Hawks for first place in the West Division.
Having given up two runs in his first inning on the mound, Trey Teakell (Texas Christian University) held the Hawks scoreless in the second and third, giving the Commodores an opportunity to bounce back into the game.
Falmouth did just that in the fourth when, for the third straight game, the team scored at least five runs in an inning. Kevin Newman (University of Arizona) led off the inning with a single up the middle. He moved over to third on a deep fly ball into center off the bat of Rhys Hoskins (Sacramento State University). With two runners in scoring position, Casey Gillaspie (Wichita State University) brought in a run on a single up the middle, cutting the Hawks’ lead to 2-1.
For the second straight time, Hyannis starter Logan Carman (University of Southern Maine) then walked Dylan Davis on four pitches, which allowed Kevin Cron (Texas Christian) to come up to bat with the bases loaded and no outs. Cron proceeded to smack the first pitch he saw to right for a two-run, stand-up double that gave the Commodores a 3-2 lead.
Carman picked up the first out of the inning when he forced Troy Stein (Texas A&M University) to ground out to short, but the well-placed grounder managed to bring in Davis and move Cron over to third. Conner Hale (State College of Florida) brought in the fifth run of the inning on a single to left.
Hyannis responded in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out run to make it 5-3, but a leadoff home run by Hoskins in the fifth gave the Commodores another three-run lead.
After giving up three runs on seven hits in four innings pitched, the Commodores replaced Teakell with reliever Kevin Mooney (University of Maryland) in the fifth. After he walked the first batter he saw, Mooney forced Tyler Spoon (University of Arkansas Fayetteville) to ground into a double play, then induced a grounder to third to end the inning.
On the mound again in the sixth, Mooney loaded the bases and gave up one run on a single by Drew Stankewicz (Arizona State University) with two outs to make it a 6-4 game.
Falmouth responded by adding on an insurance run in both the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Cron ripped a hard-hit sacrifice to left to bring in Hoskins from third. Then in the eighth, a sac fly to right by Newman brought in Hale from third to account for the final score of 8-4.
Pitchers Donny Murray (College of the Holy Cross), Brent Stong (Bradley University) and Hunter Brothers (Lipscomb University) each tossed a scoreless inning of relief in the win.
The Commodores will return to action Friday evening in a game against the Bourne Braves at Arnie Allen Diamond at 6:30.
The Commodores Corner 