story by Steve McCarthy
June 23, 2010
BREWSTER - Austin Lubinsky (Minnesota) had a
no-hitter broken up with just seven outs remaining
Wednesday, but the first place Brewster Whitecaps
improved with a 7-2 win over the Cotuit Kettleers at
Stony Brook Field in Brewster.
Cotuit's Levi Hyams
(Georgia) lined a single up the middle to spoil the
no-hit bid. Lubinsky (1-0) allowed a walk in the sixth
inning and picked off Hyams to end the seventh, as well
as his outing. It was Lubinsky's second Cape Cod
Baseball League start. He has pitched 13 shutout
innings.
“This was a huge
confidence boost,” Lubinsky said. “I know I can just
go out there and do my own thing, and know that the 'D'
behind me will have my back and we'll be successful.”
Brewster manager
Tom Myers said the seventh inning would have been
Lubinsky's last even if the no-hitter had remained
intact.
“I'm not about to
risk any injury with any of the guys for the glory of a
no-hitter,” Myers said. “He did a great job, and
then we needed our bullpen to get some work and that's
what they did.”
The Whitecaps are
7-2 on the season while last place Cotuit fell to 2-6-1.
Lubinsky threw 50
of his 75 pitches for strikes, but struck out just one
batter. He was backed by an error-free defense and
effectively located his three-pitch arsenal to induce
nine ground ball outs.
“He was moving
pitches in and out. He was throwing his off-speed for
strikes,” Brewster catcher Mike Dowd (Franklin Pierce)
said. “Probably 99-percent of the batters, he was
throwing first-pitch strikes. That was probably his
biggest thing today.”
Brewster entered
the game with the Cape League's lowest team earned run
average (1.85), but fourth worst batting average (.202).
The Whitecaps' bats cracked in timely fashion Wednesday,
as Lubinsky was able to work with a two run cushion
after the first inning, followed by a late-inning rally.
Brewster pounded out 12 hits in the game.
“The sticks have
been coming alive lately,” Dowd said. “Guys are
coming up with two-out hits, big RBI's, just hitting the
ball all over the place today.”
Matt Andriese (1-1,
UC-Riverside) took the loss for Cotuit despite a
seven-inning effort of his own. Andriese allowed four
earned runs on seven hits and struck out six. He did not
walk a batter.
Cotuit split its
scoring between the eighth and ninth innings. The
Kettleers tallied just three hits, and the league's
second lowest team batting average (.190) entering the
game continues to plummet.
The top five in
Brewster's batting order each recorded multiple hits and
accounted for all of the scoring. Andy Burns (Kentucky)
went 3-for-4 with two RBI's, while Drew Martinez
(Memphis) and Danny Oh (Cal-Berkeley) each went 2-for-4
and scored twice.
Burns drove in
Brewster's first two runs with a chopper up the middle
that escaped the infield. Leadoff man Martinez came in
from third and Oh scored from second.
Jordan Etier
(Texas) plated two with a double in the seventh inning
to chase Andriese from the game.
After Cotuit's Curt
Casali (Vanderbilt) drew a leadoff walk in the eighth
inning from Brewster reliever Jake Floethe (Cal State
Fullerton), pinch runner J.T. Taylor (Georgia) stole
second and advanced on a low throw down that skipped
into center field. Taylor scored on C.J. Cron's (Utah)
groundout.
Cotuit submariner
Michael Frongello (Davidson) was tagged for three runs
in the eighth inning, of which two were earned, on five
hits. Burns and Derek Jones (Washington St.) hit
RBI-singles before Taylor Ard (Mt. Hood CC) drove Jones
in with a double.
Thomas Kahnle
(Lynn) allowed Cotuit's second run in the ninth inning
by way of a hit batsman, a balk, a sac-fly, and an
RBI-single into right field by Zach Cone (Georgia).
Cotuit will play
its second of three straight road games on Thursday when
they travel to Bourne for a 6 p.m. first pitch.
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