story by Steve McCarthy
August 1, 2010COTUIT - Cotuit Kettleers pitcher
Bobby Shore (Oklahoma) struck out eight over seven
innings Sunday and was nearly untouchable by the Orleans
Firebirds in the last five of them. Unfortunately for
the Kettleers, he was not their starting pitcher.
Joe Loftus
(Vanderbilt) belted a solo home run in the second inning
off Austin Dicharry (Texas) and Kevin Muno (San Diego)
scored on a passed ball after leading off the third with
a double while six Orleans pitchers combined to one-hit
the Kettleers in a 2-0 shutout at Lowell Park.
“We're a team
that when we jump out in front, we play pretty good,”
Loftus said. “We like to get ahead and our pitching
staff kind of closes the door for us.”
Dicharry (0-1) made
his first start and second appearance for Cotuit,
lasting just two innings before being replaced by Shore
after Muno's double. Dicharry allowed a hit in each
inning of work and walked one while striking out two. He
threw just two pitches in his first appearance and hit a
batter.
“People were
staying on all of (Dicharry's) pitches and hitting him
pretty well," Loftus said.
The Kettleers
showed the effects of playing 18 innings in two
different Cape Cod towns on Saturday and only Jordan
Leyland (UC Irvine) had an answer against the Orleans
pitchers. Leyland singled off Burny Mitchem (Dayton),
who worked the fourth inning and ended up with the win
(3-1).
Leyland advanced to
third after his one-out hit on a wild pitch and a
sacrifice fly but was left stranded as the only Cotuit
baserunner to get past first.
Orleans won its
seventh straight game to improve to 22-18-1. Cotuit
(19-19-2) fell out of a first-place tie in the Western
Division with Bourne, which split a doubleheader Sunday.
Loftus went 3-for-4
and boosted his batting average to .217 after starting
the day at .179. Muno had two hits out of the leadoff
spot of Orleans' eight total.
“The last couple
of games I wasn't trying to do too much,” Loftus said.
“I've been making solid contact and that's been paying
off.”
Nolan Belcher
(South Carolina) made his first start of the summer
after five relief appearances since arriving from the
National Champions. He dealt three no-hit innings and
struck out three.
“We were trying
to let a couple of our starters get another days rest,
that's why I started,” Belcher said. “We knew we
were going to have to piece together some innings, but
it worked out well.”
Kenny Long
(Illinois St.) followed Mitchem for two innings and Will
Clinard (Vanderbilt), Mitchell Lambson (Arizona St.) and
Marcus Stroman (Duke) each worked an inning. Lambson
struck out the side in the eighth and Stroman picked up
his 10th save with a perfect ninth.
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