Falmouth, Mass. — The Chatham Anglers entered the seventh inning of Saturday night’s game trailing 4-0 to the Falmouth Commodores. Facing similar deficits earlier this season, Chatham could have gotten discouraged and folded in the face of adversity. Instead, the Anglers rallied, stringing together two runs on five hits in the last three innings. Though Chatham fell to Falmouth, 4-2, manager John Schiffner commended his team for battling back from four runs down.

“The one thing about these guys is they don’t quit on each other,” said Schiffner. “They don’t like to lose, they play hard for nine innings, and I really appreciate that from them. They come after you hard.”

After watching the Commodores (15-10) jump out to a 4-0 lead in the first four innings, the Anglers (11-14) offense woke up, finally breaking through with the help of a passed ball. Jeremy Vasquez singled to right to start off the seventh inning, before moving over to third following a hit batsman and an Orlando Garcia sacrifice bunt. One batter later, Turner Larkins passed ball rolled all the way to the backstop, allowing Vasquez to race home for Chatham’s first run. Chase Pinder would come home the next play on a sacrifice by John Aiello.

Box Score

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Control issues were a theme throughout the night on both sides as passed balls, wild pitches, and a lone Chatham error led to five total unearned runs. With three coming from Falmouth on Saturday, the Anglers have now allowed five unearned runs over their last two games.

The only earned run of the game came before an out was made in the bottom of the first inning. After Michael Gigliotti walked to lead off the frame, a perfectly executed hit-and-run scored the centerfielder as Deacon Liput roped a double that rolled to the wall in right field.

Falmouth scored its three other runs as a result of two passed balls by the Anglers and a single by Ryan Chandler.

Chatham’s offense struggled to put together consistent at-bats on Friday in Brewster, but turned things around against the Commodores, outhitting the opposition 7-6. Schiffner attributed his team’s uptick in offense to a strong batting practice workout. 

“[We’ve been working on] just staying up the middle as much as we can. We did go over extra rounds of execution to make sure we get it done, we bunted one down today which helped us out, got us runs,” said Schiffner. “They’re working. There is no question about it, they’re working. . . . the hitters came back late in the game and we just came up short.”

Caleb Gilbert (0-1) took the loss in his first start of the season, conceding four runs on six hits and one walk. The LSU right-hander also struck out four across four innings. Brady Singer (1-0) earned the win for Falmouth, tossing five shutout innings before being lifted in favor of Larkins.

Despite the loss, Schiffner praised his team after the game, citing progress and solid play in a number of categories for the Anglers.

“We got good at-bats from everybody, made some nice defensive plays, stole a base, got a bunt down. I thought our pitching was very good. I was pleased,” said Schiffner. “I don’t like losing, I think we can win more games, but some days there just aren’t enough innings in a game.”

Chatham returns to Veterans Field on Sunday night with the opportunity to build off of two solid road performances this weekend as they take on the Harwich Mariners at 7 p.m. Tune in to the Cape Cod Baseball Network to hear all the action, including the Anglers Extra Pregame Show 20 minutes before first pitch.