Cotuit Downs Hyannis Mets, 4-3, in Clutch Win at Lowell Park

Hollander Comes Through In Clutch Once Again for Cotuit

June 26, 2005

By Megan Kerr, Asst. Web Editor

COTUIT, MA - The Cotuit Kettleers beat the Hyannis Mets Sunday night at Lowell Park, 4-3, in a tightly contested, dramatically ended game that saw Mike Hollander (LSU) go 1-4 at the plate and garner the game-winning RBI with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning.

    A reshuffled lineup seemd to do wonders for the hitting of the Kettleers as they quickly jumped on the Mets, scoring three runs in the first three innings.  Eventually, the bats cooled down, allowing the Mets to catch up when they scored three runs in the seventh inning.  The Kettleers were not to be denied though and they continued to fight until they won the game in the last at bat in the bottom of the eighth inning.
      The scoring started in the bottom of the second inning against Stephen Perry (Dartmouth, 3 Ks, 1 BB), the starting pitcher for the Mets, when Bryan Harris (LSU, 1 for 4 batting) doubled to begin the inning.  Sean Gaston (Notre Dame, 4 for 4 batting, 1 RBI), who had a perfect night at the plate, doubled to bring in Harris for his second RBI of the season.  Gaston was then picked up on a sacrifice bunt by Todd Davison (Delaware, 1 RBI), who increased his team leading RBI total to nine.  The Kettleers added another run in the third inning when Roberto Lopez (USC, 1 for 3 batting, 1 RBI) singled to bring in Emeel Salem (Alabama, 1 for 3 batting) and it appeared that the Kettleers were going to have a big game at the plate.  After this inning though, the bats went quiet which allowed the Mets back into the game.
Josh Johnson (Mississippi State, 1 K, 1 BB) gave the Kettleers five strong innings, not allowing an earned run, and it seemed as if he was going to pick up his second victory of the season.  After Johnson left though, the Mets were able to get a rally going against the reliever Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech, 1 K, 3 BB) in the seventh inning.  Ladd gave up a double to begin the inning, and with one out, Mark McGonigle (Houston, 1 for 3 batting, 2 RBI) came to the plate.  McGonigle then proceeded to crush the ball to deep left field, hitting the first home run in Lowell park this season and also the first home run against the Kettleers all season.  This seemed to throw the Kettleers off balance and though Derik Olvey (Notre Dame, 1 K), who picked up his first victory of the season in his relief of Ladd, pitched well, the tying run was scored on an error before Olvey was able to get the last out of the inning.
      The bottom of the eighth inning approached and it was anounced that it was to be the last of the day because it was getting too hard to see the ball.  That meant that it was the last opportunity for the Kettleers to score or they would be leaving with their second tie of the season.  Mike Koons (Arizona, 2 BB) was unable to keep the Kettleers from scoring and therefore picked up his first loss of the season.  Gaston began the rally with a double and then was replaced with Julio Borbon (Tennessee), who represented the winning run.  When J.P Padron (LSU) was able to move Borbon to third, the Mets proceeded to load the bases by intentially walking Davison.  This set Hollander up to be the hero and he came through with a sacrifice fly to score Bourbon, which was his fourth RBI of the season.
      The Cotuit Kettleers were able to pull out this hard fought game in the bottom of the eighth inning because of the clutch hitting of Hollander and the good relief pitching by Olvey.  Hopefully they can continue this tommorow when they play the Bourne Braves and as they look to go to five hundred on the season.