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Empty Kettles; Cotuit's Magic Finally Runs Out Against Brewster
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by Andrew Brooks (Living the Dream Blog)
 Interview by Andrew Brooks: Coach Roberts
August 2, 2011
BREWSTER
- Every little chap has played an imaginary mental game of baseball
where they are down by two, it’s bottom of the ninth, two outs, and the
season on the line. The lad crushes it, the announcers are eating it
up, the crowd goes bonkers, his teammates maul him at home plate. This
dream is perfect.
Well, Torsten Boss (Michigan State) came to the plate with a chance to make that fantasy a reality.
But
he never got to swing the bat. What seemed like apocalyptic rain and
lightning overtook the sky in the top of the ninth causing the 4-2
Brewster victory to be called one too soon.
The
weather was something of biblical proportions. With how resilient the
Kettleers had been over the past week by staying alive and finding ways
to make a playoff push, it had to be God who was going to stop them. No
earthly force seemed to be getting in there way.
The
loss coupled with the Falmouth win over Hyannis officially knocked them
out of the playoff hunt. Considering that the club had gone to the
finals for the past three years, the loss didn’t feel real to Coach
Mike Roberts.
“It’s
kind of tough, we’ve been in the championship game the last three
years, and I honestly never thought that we would end up in last place.
But it just goes to show that I’ve got to do a better job of coaching,
teaching, and pulling us together as a team.”
Early
on Cotuit looked like it was going to continue the wizardry. Logan Vick
(Baylor) plated the first run off of Brewster starter Scott Griggs
(UCLA) by hitting a sac fly that scored Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) in
the first inning. Starter RJ Fondon (FIU) threw only eight pitches in
the frame to retire the Whitecaps in order.
But
as the game wore on, the Brewster bats came to life. They finished with
ten total hits, six of which were doubles. After knotting the game at
one in the second inning, they had a key three-run fourth that would
inevitably be enough for Brewster to get the win. Ryan Jones (Michigan
State) drove in Taylor Ard (Washington State) on a sacrifice fly. Two
batters later Chase Anselment (Washington) doubled home Devon Rodriguez
(Cal) and Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook) giving Brewster the 4-1 lead.
After answering back with a run in the fifth, Cotuit didn’t put together another real threat until the eighth.
In
what seemed like another situation of the stars aligning for Cotuit,
All-Star Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) came to the plate with the
bases loaded and two outs. The hope was short lived as the first pitch
Roache saw he turned into a harmless grounder to short.
In
the ninth JT Chargois (Rice) gave up a single to Ryon Healy (Oregon)
with one out followed by a screaming single by Alex Yarbrough. Kevin
Roundtree then hit a lazy fly ball to left bringing Torsten Boss to the
plate with two outs and everything Cotuit had worked for all season
hinging on his bat. But before he got his shot a healthy dose of
lightning began to turn violent and the game had to be called.
Coach Roberts stated that he needs to find more elite pitching and defense when putting together next year’s club.
“We
are leading the league in hitting, but we’re in last place. So once
again the baseball theory holds true. Pitching, defense, and a little
bit of speed wins. So we’ll try to be stronger on the pitching and
defensive side.”
Cotuit will play its last game of the year tomorrow against Brewster at Lowell Park. The scheduled start time is 4:30. |
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