Hyannis suffers defeat in tough 11-4 loss to Bourne

Harbor Hawks' defense and pitching aren’t like their usual selves in this one

By: Mike Maynard

The Hyannis Harbor Hawks fell to the Bourne Braves 11-4 in a high-scoring contest on Friday night. All around there were signs of struggle for Hyannis (6-6).

In the second inning, Eric Snow came up to the plate for the Harbor Hawks with runners on first and second and blasted a line drive down the right field line. The baserunners rounded the bases, and both came in to score. Snow ended up on third base with a two-RBI triple.

The next chance for offense for Hyannis came in the sixth inning. After a Ben Williamson single and an Alex Lane double, Brody Donay sent a fly ball into left field for a sacrifice fly to score Williamson from third. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Snow brought in Lane for the second run of the inning.

The beginning of the game included multiple errors by the Harbor Hawks. In the bottom of the first, the Braves scored three runs with the help of four errors in the field by Hyannis.

The pitching didn’t help the defense too much either with still six of the eleven runs on the board being earned.

“We didn’t pitch extremely well,” assistant coach Eric Luksis said. “We also had four errors to start the game and five by the end. If you don’t pitch and you don’t play defense, you’ve got no chance to win and that’s what happened tonight.”

The third inning brought more offense for Bourne (5-6-1) with five hits in the frame. Three of the hits were of the extra base variety and led to four runs being put on the board.

The Braves had a controversial run get scored in the sixth inning with a high fly ball being launched into deep center field. The ball bounced and it was hard for fans, players, coaches and even the umpires to tell if the ball cleared the fence. In the end, it was ruled a solo home run.

Derek Bender was the man with the homer for Bourne and he ended the game hitting for the cycle after adding on a triple in the seventh.

The offense for the Harbor Hawks struggled to keep up with the Braves even with hard contact being made. On multiple occasions throughout the game, players were having well-hit balls not become hits.

“I thought the hitters did a great job,” Snow said. “We had a bunch of hard contact that went straight to people in their positions… I think we stuck to our approach, and we got things done at the plate.”

One of the bright spots of the game for Hyannis were the pitching performances from Hiroyuki Yamada and Carter Lovasz out of the bullpen. Lovasz had an especially nice outing for himself setting down the three hitters he faced in order.

“I thought that was the best outing that [Lovasz] has had all summer,” Luksis said. “He looked really good.”

Overall, up and down the roster it was not the game that the Harbor Hawks were hoping for. Each level of the team struggled in this one and it will be up to them to turn things around when they travel to Orleans to take on the Firebirds. First pitch at Eldredge Park will be Saturday, June 24 at 6:30 p.m.

“We’ve just got to flush [this game]” Luksis said. “That’s part of the process this summer. We’re going to play almost every single day. We’re in a streak of nine games in a row now. We’ve got to just forget about tonight and come out tomorrow. It’s a brand-new day and hopefully, the ball bounces our way a little bit better.”

Mike Maynard can be reached at mikemay62@gmail.com and followed on Twitter @mikecmaynard.