John Schiffner’s attitude toward his team’s play took a 180-turn in a little lass than 24 hours. 

After falling to Bourne, 8-3, on Saturday night, Schiffner was displeased with the effort he saw on the field. But he was closer to content with the Anglers’ performance on Sunday, citing progress and potential even if the result was still less than satisfying. 

“That was a good college baseball game,” Schiffner said. “We were right there and that’s a start, we just need to put it all together still. But we played well tonight and hung around.”

Schiffner added that the difference from this game from the Anglers’ (12-15-1) last two losses was that it got better pitching, but even that didn’t stop Falmouth (15-12-1) from leaving Veterans Field with a 5-3 win on Sunday night. The Commodores received great pitching from starter Matt Hall, who threw five innings and gave up no runs while striking out seven in a winning decision — which was preserved by a two-out save by Conor Costello. Charlie Dant (Dayton) started for the Anglers and received the loss after yielding four runs on seven hits in 3.1 innings of work. 

Charlie Dant (Dayton) threw three innings and received the loss in his fourth start.

 

Box Score:

Game Tracker

The loss is Chatham’s sixth in a row and it will face Hyannis, the last team it beat, at 7 p.m. on Monday. 

“The pitching was good and I thought that they put us in a good position,” Schiffner said. “But we made two mistakes, one on a pitch by Charlie and one by Jeff (Gelinas) that let them get ahead.”

The two mistakes were two pitches, one in the second and another in the fourth, that guided the Commodores offense early on. The first was a fastball that Dant threw to Cameron O’Brien, that led off the second and ended up three-fourths of the way up the hill behind the right-field wall. Then Gelinas (Maine) gave up a two-run home run to Matthew Eureste in the fourth on the first pitch he threw — the last runs Falmouth scored on the night. 

Gelinas, Garrett Williams (Oklahoma State) and Kyle Davis (Southern California) combined to blank the Commodores from the fifth inning on, but the visitors’ pitching was equally impressive. Mitchell Gunsolus (Gonzaga) was the hardest out for the Falmouth staff, as he doubled in Chris Shaw (Boston College) to open Chatham’s line in the bottom of the sixth. 

“I am just seeing the ball well and getting good at-bats,” Gunsolus said. “Just trying to stay on the right track and keep hitting well.”

Gunsolus walked to lead off the ninth, and then took second, third and home on two wild pitches to pull the Anglers within three. That finished his day at 3-for-3 with a walk, RBI and run scored, but his teammates weren’t done. 

Jake Fraley (LSU), Kal Simmons (Kennesaw State) and Ty Moore (UCLA) went for back-to-back-to-back singles — with Moore’s sending Fraley in to score — but A.J. Murray (Georgia Tech) ended the rally when he grounded into a double play. But even though Chatham fell a few hits short of snapping its season-long winning streak, it was the solid pitching and threatening comeback bid that had Schiffner humming a different tune after the game. 

Moore, who made a bevy of highlight-reel plays in left and kept the wheel spinning with an RBI single in the ninth, said the team needs one big inning to snap out of its funk. It almost came in the form of a last-inning comeback Sunday, but the Anglers will have to settle with a step in the right direction. 

“We need one inning and it’s coming,” Moore said. “In most of these games it’s been that way. We could have won five of the last seven if we had that inning.”

Up next 

The last time the Anglers won was against Hyannis (12-16) last Sunday, and that's is who they'll host at Veterans Field at 7 p.m. on Monday. Andrew Chin (Boston College) will start for Chahtam and oppose Mark Brakerman. Broadcast coverage of the Anglers and Harbor Hawks begins at 6:40 p.m. with the Anglers Extra Pregame Show. Watch and listen on TRZ Teamline or listen by phone 1-800-846-4700, code 3481. Visit Broadcast Central for more information. 

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