Dom Tracy ended a season-long slump in a big way for the Falmouth baseball team.
Tracy homered and doubled twice, Bennett Smith delivered a strong start on the mound, and the Navigators defeated Cheverus 6-1 on Thursday afternoon to improve to 7-1. Cheverus, which had won three of its last four games, fell to 3-5.
“They’ve got some good baseball players, and they’re going to beat some good teams,” Falmouth Coach Mike D’Andrea said. “We have a lot to work on as a team, and we figure things out it seems like every day.”
An example is Tracy, who entered the game with only one hit for the season, but who had been hard at work finding a way to change his fortunes.
“I had a good practice yesterday, went over a couple of things with (assistant) coach (Dave) Abramson, he gave me a couple of pointers,” he said. “I just went up there, cleared the mind and swung as hard as I can.”
He connected on the first of those swings, smashing a shot to deep right that cleared the wall for a 1-0 lead in the top of the third. Tracy originally stopped at second, thinking it hopped over the fence, until he was waved around.
“It surprised me. It felt like a pop-up. It just kept going,” he said. “I was pretty happy about it.”
Tracy played a starring role again an inning later after Cheverus tied the game. Ethan Hendry was hit by a pitch leading off the fourth, Smith singled two batters later, and Tracy hit a hard grounder down the first-base line for a double that scored both for a 3-1 lead.
“I thought it was really important,” Tracy said. “Guys were all buzzing on the bench, it’s a big game. We’ve had some tough games against Cheverus in my career, so nice to come out here and lay it on them thick.”
Tracy hit a line drive into the right-field corner for his second double in the seventh.
“He’s had some good practices,” D’Andrea said. “We like what we’ve been seeing from him, he’s working hard. … He’s going to have his moments at the plate this year.”
Falmouth pulled away in the fifth when three Stags errors allowed Brennan Rumpf (hit by pitch), Hendry (groundout) and Pat Gill (single) to drive in runs for a 6-1 lead. Smith (five innings, no earned runs) protected the Navigators’ lead.
“I thought Jacob Lucier (4.2 innings, six runs, three earned) pitched a very good ballgame,” Cheverus Coach Tony DiBiase said. “We didn’t really help him much defensively.”
The Stags had a chance to gain the upper hand in the first. Ritchie Tremble doubled to lead off the game and advanced to third on a groundout, but was picked off when Mitchell Ham made a great play to snag Smith’s throw off the ground on his left side and then tag Tremble for the out.
“It was the play of the game,” D’Andrea said. “Not only did (Ham) pick the ball out of the dirt, but he stuck the tag on the run. People don’t realize, that’s a really tough play. That ball, rightfully so, probably should have been in left field. But (it was a) great play by Mitchell.”
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