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Braves Almost Have No-Hitter against Orleans
Jul 11, 2010
Author: Joseph Thompson

If you’ve been following the Bourne Braves all year you may heard the following descriptions. Dominant pitching, pitcher’s duel, pitching gem, or the year of the pitcher. The Braves pitching performance in Sundays 2-0 victory over the Orleans Firebirds was no exception.

The Braves as a team were able to carry a no-hitter into the top of the ninth inning only to have it broken up by a Matt Newman double. Braves starter Devin Jones (Mississippi State) was lights out striking out five over the course of seven innings and only allowed one runner on base. This came on Firebirds catcher Ronnie Shaeffer’s hard shot to Braves first baseman Mike Nemeth who fumbled the ball on the play which was ruled an error on Nemeth (UConn).

The Firebirds were equally as impressive pitching wise as the combination of Andrew Kittredge (Washington), Kenny Long (Illinois State), Will Clinard (Vanderbilt) , and Marcus Stroman (Duke) struck out a combined eight batters and allowing only two runs during the course of nine innings. The two runs were charged to Orleans starter Andrew Kittredge.

The bottom of the fourth started with a chorus of cheers from Braves fans as second baseman Zack MacPhee was able to reach first after Orleans second baseman Shon Roe (Loyola Marymount) bobbled the ball. The Braves fans at Doran Park would soon be silenced as MacPhee (Arizona State) was caught stealing second. The Braves were caught stealing three times during the game.

Braves fans wouldn’t be silent for long, as leftfielder Tommy LaStella ripped one into center for a single. During Jason Coats (TCU) at bat, LaStella (Coastal Carolina) would make it to second after a passed ball by Orleans catcher Ronnie Shaeffer (UC Irvine). LaStella would go on to score after Travis Shaw (, the third baseman for the Braves, lined one into right for a single scoring LaStella from second.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Braves would go on to score again to pad their lead. First baseman Mike Nemeth was able to redeem himself from the error that he made earlier in the game when he knocked one to left for a single. He advanced to second when Bourne’s resident speedster Scott Woodward (Coastal Carolina) lined one into left for a single and Nemeth would touch home plate on the Zack MacPhee single giving the Braves the only two runs of the night.

Things got scary for the Braves in the ninth on the Newman double to start the inning. Things got even scarier when Firebirds shortstop Jason Esposito (Vanderbilt) was able to touch first base and advance center fielder Matt Newman (Arizona State) to third on the play. Esposito proceeded to steal second and made the Braves fans at Doran Park sweat a bit about their chances for a victory. Braves reliever Tony Zych (Louisville) seemed to be unfazed by all of the hoopla that was surrounding him as he was able to get Preston Tucker (Florida) to fly out to right to end the game.

The Braves are now 13-11 on the season, just two games over .500 and still remain ahead in the Western Division standings. The next game will be Monday night when the Braves will face the Brewster Whitecaps at 6PM at Doran Park.

A special reminder goes out to all veterans to please join us on Saturday July 17, 2010 at 5:30 PM for a game against the Wareham Gateman which will be dedicated to our military personnel. All active, retired, and reserves are welcome to participate in pre-game festivities. A navy band is scheduled to play from 4 PM until game time.