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Zimmer Saves the Day, Cotuit Edges Falmouth 2-1
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by Andrew Brooks (Living the Dream Blog)
 Interview by Andrew Brooks: Coach Roberts, Kyle Zimmer
July 30, 2011
FALMOUTH
- In movies, sometimes there is a scene where the villain has the hero
right where he wants him. The protagonist is dead to rights and needs a
miracle to make it out alive. Instead of ending things right then and
there, the desperado gives some long pointless speech about “how long
they’ve waited for this moment,” and then boom, a sidekick comes out of
nowhere, knocks the villain out, gives an epic “let’s get out of here!”
and the hero lives to fight another day.
Today in Falmouth, Kyle Zimmer (San Francisco) was that sidekick.
In
what was a win or go home game for Cotuit, Zimmer pitched seven
masterful innings en route to a 2-1 Cotuit triumph. He owned the room
at all times, never seeming like any part of the game was out of his
control. He mixed his pitches all over the plate, never letting
Falmouth know what was coming. The Commodores were off balance for
eight of the nine innings, and were helpless against Kyle’s change up.
Zimmer struck out five, walked two, and only surrendered four hits.
“That
was the best he’s pitched all summer,” praised Cotuit coach Mike
Roberts. “He had consistency, confidence, and the change up was the
best it’s been.”
Even though Zimmer knew it was do or die, he had the same “business as usual” attitude.
“The
coaches mentioned it before the game and I knew what was at stake. But
I just tried to keep it the same, didn’t really try to think it over
too much.”
Falmouth put the pressure on Cotuit in the 4th
inning when Jeremy Baltz (St. Johns) doubled home Billy Ferriter
(Uconn) to give Falmouth the early 1-0 edge. That one run felt like
ten, considering that Falmouth starter Tyler Duffy (Rice) didn’t allow
a base runner until Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) legged out an
infield single in the top of the 5th.
But
Cotuit refused to die. In the sixth inning, Patrick Biondi (Michigan)
led off by slapping a single into right field. Kyle Wren (Georgia Tech)
then blasted a ball to the wall in right putting runners on 2nd and 3rd
with nobody out. Considering that Wren hadn’t hit many balls close to
the warning track all year, Wren certainly served as an unlikely hero.
Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) then came through with the two RBI’s that
Cotuit needed by punishing a groundball over the head of Falmouth
second basemen Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State) allowing Biondi and Wren
to score.
Falmouth added a little Hollywood flavor of their own in the 8th
inning. Zimmer walked Shane Rowland (Miami) to begin the frame. He was
then subbed for Mason McVay (FIU) who sailed a wild pitch to the
backstop allowing Rowland to reach second. Eric Garcia (Missouri) then
drew a walk, putting runners on 1st and 2nd
with nobody gone. Coach Roberts had seen enough of McVay and put
Michael Clevinger (Seminole JC) on the mound to face Billy Ferriter.
Billy then grounded out to second where Micah Johnson (Indiana) tagged
Garcia and then threw over to first to nab Ferriter for the key twin
killing. Jake Rodriguez ended the inning with a harmless fly ball to
left.
In the bottom of the 9th
Max White (Oklahoma) reached base with one out by taking a Clevinger
fastball to the back. But White was stranded by two consecutive fly
balls by Falmouth.
While
the victory does give Cotuit new life, the task is still daunting. With
three games left for the Kettleers, they need to win at least two of
those and pray for some help from Wareham and Hyannis. Two Kettleer’s
losses, two Falmouth wins, or one of each would mean the end of the run
for Cotuit. It should be noted that after Falmouth plays at Wareham
tomorrow, they have three straight games against Hyannis to end the
regular season, giving them one more game to play than Cotuit.
The hopeful Mike Roberts is aware the dreary situation, but still keeps the same objective in mind.
“Falmouth
still holds the cards, and we need some help from them. But the goal is
for each of the players to improve individually and we’re still working
on that.”
Chris
Beck (Georgia Southern) will try to save the day again for Cotuit, as
he and the Kettleers will go up against the Bourne Braves at Lowell
Park tomorrow at 5 o’clock. |
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