story by Steve McCarthy
August 4, 2010BREWSTER - The Cotuit Kettleers
had a chance to lock up a top-three finish in the Cape
Cod Baseball League's Western Division against a
Brewster team with nothing to play for. And they
couldn't do it. But with help from a Wareham loss to
top-seed Bourne, the Kettleers still finished third and
will play second seed Falmouth in the opening round of
the playoffs, starting Friday.
Cotuit dropped a
4-2 decision to the Whitecaps at Stony Brook Field
despite stranding 16 potential runs on base, including
10 in scoring position. Brewster was ensured the Eastern
Division's second seed before the game began.
It was the latest
in a string of misfortune for the Kettleers, who lost
six straight to close out the regular season, including
two walk-off losses in the past week. Cotuit finished at
19-23-2, a record that would leave them in last place in
the East. The league's playoff format selects the top
four of five teams from each division.
Cotuit will face
Falmouth in the opening round, with the Commodores
getting home field advantage for two of the the possible
three games. All three playoff rounds are best-of-three
series.
Brewster (26-17-1)
ended up one point behind Yarmouth-Dennis and will
entertain Orleans in the first round. The Whitecaps
rested several of their regulars Wednesday and attempted
to preserve their pitching staff.
All four Brewster
runs came with two outs in an inning. Taylor Ard (Mt.Hood
CC) drove in the first two with a double to right field
in the first inning and Danny Oh (Cal-Berkeley) and
Derek Jones (Washington St.) provided RBIs in the
fourth.
“The game before
playoffs, you always want to go out with some
momentum,” Oh said. “We've been swinging pretty
well, so it feels good for our team to win these last
couple games.”
Oh finished 3-for-4
with a double and two runs scored. He has seven hits in
his last nine at-bats.
“During BP
(batting practice), I just try to focus on driving the
ball the other way,” Oh said. “That's one of my
strengths.”
Cotuit came up
empty after loading the bases with one out in the fourth
and ninth innings. Both of their runs came with one out
in the third, when Chad Wright (Kentucky) came in on a
passed ball and Jordan Leyland (UC-Irvine) scored on a
John Hinson (Clemson) groundout.
Luke Bard (Georgia
Tech) was responsible for both Cotuit runs in his
four-inning start for Brewster. Billy Soule (Minnesota)
followed with three innings for the win (1-0) and Jake
Barrett (Arizona St.) and Colton Murray (Kansas) each
worked a frame. Murray picked up the save (8).
“Now we have our
pitching working and our hitting, so going into the
playoffs I think we should be pretty good,” Ard said.
Submariner Michael
Frongello (Davidson) took the loss (0-1) for Cotuit
after coming on in the fourth inning for starter Matt
Andriese (UC-Riverside). Brooks Pinckard (Baylor) struck
out three in two and two-thirds scoreless innings to
finish the game.
Deven Marrero
(Arizona St.) paced Cotuit with a 3-for-5 afternoon at
the plate. The shortstop also made a pair of highlight
reel plays defensively. Leyland and Paul Hoilman (East
Tennessee St.) each contributed two hits.
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