story by Steve McCarthy
July 9, 2010
COTUIT - Through three innings at Lowell Park Friday,
the Cotuit Kettleers could not catch a break. Their only
baserunner got aboard by drawing a walk and Bourne
Braves starting pitcher Mike Morin (North Carolina) was
in a rhythm.
The Kettleers
finally recorded a hit in the fourth inning. On a bunt.
The slow roller off the bat of Chad Wright (Kentucky)
was playable by Morin, but the pitcher hurled the ball
over the head of first baseman Mike Nemeth (UConn),
allowing Wright to advance into scoring position.
Though Wright was
left stranded, the Kettleers saw something during that
inning. They capitalized on two more errors in the fifth
inning to tie the game at 2-2. In the sixth, they bunted
again. And again. And again. One more error fielding a
bunt and two walks had Morin (1-2) chased from the
ballgame with six Cotuit runs on the scoreboard, five
blamed on him.
“We've got to
make them prove that they can field the bunt, and they
didn't prove that all night,” Cotuit catcher James
McCann (Arkansas) said. “It's just one of those things
that some nights you can, some nights you can't.”
A two-run single by
McCann off Bourne reliever Kyle McMyne (Villanova) made
it a five-run inning.
The Kettleers
scored seven runs needing nothing more than singles. The
Braves were charged with five errors in three innings.
“It definitely
jump started the offense,” McCann said. “After we
started laying those bunts down, we got hit after hit
and it turned into a big cushion for us.”
Meanwhile, Cotuit
starter Bobby Shore (Oklahoma) was dealing. Signed to a
temporary contract and making his Cape League debut on
the same day, Shore stumbled out of the gates and worked
with a two-run deficit after two innings. Then he
retired 13 in a row.
Shore left after
five and one-third innings, allowing three earned runs
on three hits while striking out one. He walked the last
batter he faced, who would come around and score.
“The first couple
of innings, I didn't get my stuff down,” Shore said.
“I was able to find it after that.”
When all was said
and done, Cotuit had topped the only team ahead of them
in the Cape Cod Baseball League's Western Division
standings, 8-3. Bourne (12-11) maintains a two-point
edge over Cotuit (10-11-2).
“I didn't even
know they were in first place,” McCann said. “We're
not too worried about the standings right now. We're
more worried about ourselves.”
A.J. Achter
(Michigan State) finished the sixth inning for Shore and
picked up the win (2-1). Usual starter Matt Andriese (UC-Riverside)
worked the final three innings out of Cotuit's bullpen.
The Kettleers
capped the scoring in the eighth inning when speedy
leadoff hitter Michael Faulkner (Arkansas St.) stretched
a single into a double and came around on Michael
Yastrzemski's (Vanderbilt) RBI single to right.
R.C. Orlan (North
Carolina) allowed the two baserunners that were in
scoring position for McCann's hit off McMyne. Michael
Dimock (Wake Forest) surrendered Cotuit's final run
during his two innings of work.
Wright paced Cotuit
with three hits in five at-bats, while John Hinson
(Clemson) and Levi Hyams (Georgia) each had two hits.
McCann and Jordan Leyland (UC-Irvine) both drove in two
runs. Cotuit out-hit Bourne 12-5.
Josh Elander (TCU)
was Bourne's only player with multiple hits, going
2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.
The Kettleers will
travel to Yarmouth-Dennis on Saturday for a 5 p.m. game
at Red Wilson Field.
|
