story by Steve McCarthy
July 3, 2010
HYANNIS - Progress has been the theme of the start of
July for the Cotuit Kettleers, and at no time has that
been more evident than during Saturday night's 3-1 win
over the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.
Crafty Arizona
State University southpaw starting pitcher Josh Spence
(1-0, .90 ERA) set the tone at McKeon Park, tossing five
innings of one-hit ball. Five innings doubled Spence's
total through his first two starts this summer and is
five more than he was able to pitch all spring for the
Sun Devils due to an elbow injury.
Twenty-two year-old
Australia native Spence redshirted what would have been
his senior season after turning down a third-round offer
from the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2009. Despite
his injury, Spence was selected in the ninth round of
this year's MLB draft by the San Diego Padres.
“Unfortunately,
my scenario is a little unique compared to other
players,” Spence said. “I'm just in a rehabilitation
process right now, and the team has been great. To have
an outing like that, the next thing I have to do is
build off it. It's in the past, I just lived in the
moment, and I'm looking forward to the next one.”
Spence struck out
four and walked two, while being held to a 70 pitch
limit at this point in his recovery. He bore down to
exit the fourth inning unscathed, leaving Hyannis
baserunners on second and third.
“The big thing
for me is pitch count,” Spence said. “I got to the
pitch count and fortunately I went a little bit further
this time than usual.”
Deven Marrero's
(Arizona St.) solo home run in the fourth inning proved
not to be enough for Cotuit to get the win. But Zach
Cone's (Georgia) two-out, two-run line drive single
through the left side of the infield in the fifth was.
“I was trying to
hit a home run. I'm not going to lie,” Cone said. “I
rolled over and got lucky.”
Cone, who is making
his final few starts for Cotuit before leaving to
compete for a spot on Team USA, returned to Cape Cod for
a second summer to tune up for the Trials. But Cone had
just two hits through his first six games and drove in
one run. He has four hits and three RBIs in his last
three games, along with three runs scored.
Cone is a threat to
reach base every time he steps in the batter's box out
of the ninth spot in Cotuit's order, which has benefited
Kettleers RBI leader and leadoff hitter C.J. Cron
(Utah). Cron is tied for third in the Cape League with
10 RBIs.
“I kind of like
(the ninth spot),” Cone said. “One less at-bat a
game, but it's fun. You see a lot more fastballs.”
During the last
week of June, Cotuit lost three 3-2 games on walk-off
hits after leading each game 2-0. The first two games of
July, the Kettleers bullpen has allowed one run through
seven and two-thirds innings of work.
Cotuit's most
consistent reliever, right-hander A.J. Achter (Michigan
St.), followed Brady Rodgers' (Arizona St.) win in
relief on Friday with a four-inning save Saturday.
Hyannis' lone run came in the ninth inning on a home run
by Dan Sheppard (Iowa).
“It's not about
how you start. It's how you finish,” Spence said.
“We've got something good going, and we're just going
to try to build off that momentum.”
In the end, the
Kettleers continued something Saturday night that they
failed to experience through the entire first month of
the season: A winning streak. With three-straight wins
to their name, Cotuit (7-10-1) moved to within one point
of third place Hyannis in the Western Division standings
and three points behind Falmouth. The Kettleers and
Commodores will meet the next two evenings.
“It's funny to
say it, but the biggest winning streak of the summer is
here,” Spence said. “Let's see if we can build off
it.”
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