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2009
Cotuit Kettleers Game Recaps
... full
season stories
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Kettleers
salvage one point in double-header against Wareham
story by Steve McCarthy
July 25, 2009
WAREHAM - The Wareham Gatemen (17-13-5) took three
points away from Saturday’s double header at home
to widen their lead atop the Western Division over
the Cotuit Kettleers (15-15-5), who dropped out of a
tie for second place with the Bourne Braves.
The Braves beat Chatham 8-2 Saturday and sit three
points behind the Gatemen. Cotuit is one point
behind Bourne. Wareham and Bourne will meet on
Sunday.
Spillane Field was illuminated by lights after the
sun set, leaving a repeat of the July 13 pair of
ties at Cotuit’s Lowell Park out of the question.
A dense fog halted the second game though, resulting
in a 1-1 tie after nine innings. Wareham won the
early game 4-3.
“We came out, just battled hard, and just wanted
to get at least one win in for us,” Wareham second
baseman Jake Lemmerman said. “We thought we could
have won two tonight, but didn’t come through.”
Both games saw outstanding starting pitching. Three
of the four starters struck out nine batters each.
The exception was Cotuit’s Game 1 starter Ricky
Bowen (Mississippi St.) who walked four of the seven
batters he faced and hit one with a pitch. Bowen was
pulled by manager Mike Roberts with two outs in the
first inning and took the loss (1-1).
Cole Green (1-1, Texas) pitched a complete game in
the early contest. He allowed Cotuit runs in the
second, third, and seventh innings, but surrendered
just one extra base hit.
Wareham’s Josh Mueller (Eastern Illinois) and
Cotuit’s Justin Grimm dueled in Game 2, as each of
the runs were unearned. Mueller overcame early
control problems to finish six innings, and
surrendered just three hits. Grimm allowed four hits
and walked one, relying on a mid 90’s fastball
that Wareham batters could not catch up to. He also
hit a batter. “(Grimm) threw the ball the best
he’s thrown it this summer,” Roberts said.
Cotuit leadoff hitter Chris Bisson was a headache
for Wareham pitchers all afternoon, stealing seven
bases in the two games. He reached base seven times
in eight at bats and scored twice. His third inning
run in Game 2 was the equalizer. “It’s been many
years since I’ve seen one player that I enjoyed
watching play as much as I enjoyed watching Chris
Bisson play today,” Roberts said. “He showed me
that he’s grown up a lot in the 45 days that
he’s been here.”
Lemmerman (Duke) contributed in a variety of ways in
both games for Wareham. Despite starting the day
batting .135, Lemmerman drew a walk to score his
team’s second run in Game 1, reached on an error
to push across the lone run in Game 2, executed a
sac-bunt, singled, and beat out a throw to first on
a strike three in the dirt. “I changed up a few
things with my stance,” Lemmerman said. “Just
really tried to focus on the ball and put some good
swings on it, and got in a hitter’s count.”
In Game 1, Bowen walked in Shea Vucinich (Washington
St.) and Ryan LaMarre (Michigan) to give Wareham the
first inning lead. Cotuit’s Zack Cox (Arkansas)
doubled to lead off the second inning, and moved
over to third on a sac-bunt by Tony Plagman (Georgia
Tech). He eventually scored on an RBI broken bat
single by Cody Stanley (UNC-Wilmington). Derek
Dietrich scored from second on LaMarre’s triple
off the center field fence in the home half of the
inning. Lemmerman scored Wareham’s final run in
the fifth inning on an RBI-single by Tyler Albright
(Harvard). Cotuit attempted a seventh inning
comeback, with Cory Vaughn (San Diego St.) leading
off with a base hit and moving up to second on a
Kevin Patterson (Auburn) groundout before scoring on
Bisson’s RBI-single. The comeback fell short
though, as Green struck out Rico Noel (Coastal
Carolina) on three pitches to end the game.
Chris Hannick (Cal. St. Northridge) put Wareham on
the scoreboard first in the second inning of Game 2,
doubling and scoring on a fielding error by Cotuit
shortstop Brian Guinn (Cal Berkeley). Bisson scored
from third in the next inning on an RBI-groundout by
Cox. Pitching prevailed the rest of the way.
Cotuit’s Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) and
Wareham’s Scott Rembisz (Florida International)
each allowed one hit through multiple innings of
relief. Tillman pitched two innings and struck out
three batters. Rembisz went the final three frames
and faced one batter over the minimum. “I’m very
pleased with the effort,” Roberts said. “I’m
very disappointed in the way they scored their one
run.”
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