story by Steve McCarthy
August 2, 2010BOURNE - The Cape Cod Baseball
League's Western Division leading Bourne Braves won a
battle of the bullpens Monday night 5-4 against the
Cotuit Kettleers, handing Cotuit its second walk-off
loss in three days.
Bourne (22-20) won
in the same fashion for the second game in a row. The
Braves strengthened their hold on first place in the
division standings to four points over the second place
Kettleers (19-20-2). Monday's game was the final meeting
between the teams of the regular season, which concludes
on Wednesday.
The Braves kept
chipping away at Cotuit's 4-1 lead, which was built in
the fourth inning. Cotuit closer Ryan Duke (Oklahoma)
worked the Kettleers out of bases-loaded jams in the
seventh and eighth innings but couldn't get past the
first out of the ninth with a 4-3 lead.
Duke struck out
Josh Elander (TCU) to start the inning but walked Nick
Ahmed (UConn) and Travis Jankowski (Stony Brook) singled
up the middle before Mike Nemeth (UConn) curled an
opposite field line drive down the left field foul line
to plate the tying run.
“After a couple
of strikeouts earlier, it's nice to be able to come back
and have a big at-bat there, especially with the game on
the line,” Nemeth said.
Kyle McMillen (Kent
St.) was brought on to face the middle of Bourne's order
and walked Jason Coats (TCU) to load the bases and bring
up cleanup hitter Travis Shaw (Kent St.). Shaw popped a
lazy fly ball that forced Cotuit shortstop Deven Marrero
(Arizona St.) to range back to the shallow outfield,
just deep enough to allow Jankowski to tag and race home
with the winning run from third.
“That's not the
way you draw it up,” Shaw quipped. “(McMillen)
fooled me on the 2-1 pitch, but thank God we had
somebody fast on third.”
Duke took the loss
(0-1), his first decision of the summer. He has three
saves for Cotuit.
Cotuit's fourth
inning rally was sparked by a two-run home run from John
Hinson (Clemson). Levi Hyams' (Georgia) sacrifice-fly
pushed across the third run and James McCann's
(Arkansas) RBI bloop single culminated the four-hit,
four-run frame.
That was the last
of the Kettleers' offense for the night, as three Braves
relievers combined to no-hit Cotuit the rest of the way.
R.C. Orlan (North Carolina) spelled Tar Heels teammate
Mike Morin in the fifth inning and took the game through
the seventh. Logan Billbrough (William and Mary) worked
a perfect eighth and R.J. Alvarez (Florida Atlantic)
closed it out and earned the win (3-2).
“Our bullpen, I
think, is the best in the league,” Shaw said. “We
have four or five guys that can go out there and shut
every team down it seems like.”
Bourne's offense
was spotty off Cotuit starter A.J. Achter (Michigan St),
who was able to recover quickly from mistakes. Achter
surrendered runs in the second and fourth innings and
left the bases loaded for Duke with no outs in the
seventh. Achter scattered seven hits over six innings
and struck out five in his second start of the summer.
“I thought we
were done after (the seventh),” Shaw said. “When you
leave the bases loaded and only score one run with
nobody out, that usually ends up in a loss.”
Tommy Lastella
(Coastal Carolina) led Bourne's 11-hit charge with a
3-for-3 night. Shaw and Zack MacPhee (Arizona St.) had
two hits each. Shaw tripled in his first at-bat.
“This was a real
big win,” Nemeth said.
Cotuit will host
Yarmouth-Dennis for a doubleheader on Tuesday with Y-D
serving as the home team for the first seven inning game
starting at 1 p.m. The second game will start
approximately a half hour after the conclusion of the
first.
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