07/01/2021 4:22 AM Article By: Taylor Viles
Doran Park was busy on Wednesday evening for the Bourne Braves game against the Harwich Mariners. The contest was anticipated for Bourne fans as they were looking for their seventh win of the season without recording a loss. Instead, the 817 in attendance were treated to a thrilling pitchers duel, complete with two delays, and an impressive ending.
The game began at 6:03 p.m. and moved at a fast pace through the early innings. Peter Van Loon was on the bump for Bourne. It was his first appearance of the season but he was impressive, only allowing three hits while striking out five over four innings of work.
Wellesley native Billy Seidl was on the mound for the Mariners and proved tough against the Bourne hitters. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the first, he allowed one hit in the second and one in the third. In the fourth inning, Seidl walked the bases loaded but Bourne catcher Colton Bender struck out with two outs to end the frame. Seidl did not return after the bases loaded escape, finishing with zero earned runs.
The game remained scoreless until the top of the seventh inning when an error by Bourne allowed the Mariners to gain momentum. Harwich then loaded the bases on a full-count walk by Brock Wilken. Carter Putz promptly followed by putting the Mariners on the board with a single to left field. A second runner tried to score on the play but a perfect throw from Cayden Wallace cut him down at home, keeping the game tight.
It was at this point a normal baseball game became anything but normal.
Right as the seventh inning stretch began, Bourne’s Public Address Announcer declared the game was going to be paused due to lightning in the area. Due to Cape League rules, visible lightning within 10 miles requires a halt in play until a half hour after the final strike. The lightning seemed distant but it was constant making the potential restart time continuously move later. No rain fell during this first delay, but the majority of the fans opted to head home with the restart time unknown.
During the delay, players and interns played catch, spikeball, and even a “Wiffle Ball” game broke out in left field.
The game resumed after two hours and five minutes.
If the game had not continued, the score would have reverted to the last full inning completed: the sixth. Even though Harwich took the lead before the delay, Bourne wouldn’t have had the opportunity to bat in the bottom of the inning, meaning the final score would’ve been 0-0.
Bender, the one who left the bases loaded in the fourth inning, led off the bottom of the seventh with a game-tying no-doubt home run to left field.
Stellar pitching from Xavier Lovett (Bourne) and Aaron Holiday (Harwich) kept the game tied in the eighth inning, but not before mother nature decided to continue her “rain” of control. This time, the delay was due to precipitation. With two outs and two strikes on the batter in the bottom of the eighth, a wild pitch due to the lack of control of a wet baseball prompted the home plate umpire to wave the players back to their respective dugouts.
Less than five minutes later, the rain stopped and it was back to baseball. The second delay clocked in at 10 minutes.
Holiday finished the eighth inning unscathed for Harwich.
Braves closer Eric Adler took the mound in the top of the ninth and pitched a quick three outs allowing for his team to make one final push to win the intense battle.
After two quick outs in the last frame, the Braves worked two walks to put the winning run at second base for the current league leader in batting average, Dalton Rushing. Rushing struck out looking on a borderline inside fastball to end the pitchers duel at 11:12 p.m.
The game took five hours and nine minutes to complete.
Final Score: Mariners 1 (3-5-1) - Braves 1 (6-0-2)
