By Megan Kerr, Asst. Web Editor
July 30, 2005

COTUIT, MA — Brad Boyer (Arizona, 1 for 5 batting, 1 RBI) came through for Cotuit in the bottom of the ninth inning as his home run sent the Kettleers into extra innings, but unfortunately they lost in the eleventh inning to the Falmouth Commodores in a six to five game. After being behind most of the game, Boyer was briefly the hero as his two-run homerun in the ninth inning tied the game and gave Cotuit the opportunity to win a game they had seemed to be out of. It wasn’t meant to be though as Falmouth wasn’t disconcerted at all by the Kettleers comeback and took their final lead of the game in the eleventh inning. With Cotuit unable to pull another dramatic hit to tie the game up, the Kettleers now again trail Wareham in the standings entering the all-star break.

Clay Dirks (LSU, 3 Ks, 2 BBs) struggled right from the beginning of the game as he only lasted three and a third innings, throwing eighty pitches in that span. In the first two innings, Falmouth scored four runs to seize control of the game, but reliever Barret Browning (Florida State, 2 Ks, 1 BB) pitched well enough to keep the Kettleers in the game. Cotuit was able to cut the four run lead in half in the second inning off of a Jason Donald (Arizona, 2 for 5 batting, 2 RBI) double that scored two runs. They then pulled within a run in the fourth inning when Donald scored off an error by the Commodores second baseman Brian Friday (Rice, 0 for 5 batting, 1 RBI). With the score now four to three in favor of the Commodores it was a completely different ball game as Cotuit had taken back the momentum from Falmouth.

Falmouth did manage to get one run against Browning in the seventh inning when Warren McFadden (Tulane, 3 for 5 batting, 1 RBI) doubled to score Jon Still (North Carolina State, 1 for 4 batting). They couldn’t get any more as reliever Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech, 0 BBs, 7 Ks) did a fantastic job, striking out seven people in all (three before extra innings) to keep Cotuit close. With the run, Cotuit entered the ninth inning down by two runs, setting the stage for a dramatic finish. With two outs and a man on, Brad Boyer walked to the plate facing reliever Chris Krawczyk (SW Missouri St, 0 BB, 1 K) who had four saves and an earned run average of 1.69 coming into the game. He was unable to get the save this game though as he gave up a home run over the right field fence to Boyer on the first pitch, tying the game.

Cotuit was unable to come up with the fantasy ending though as they fell short in extra innings with Ladd picking up his first loss of the season. In the eleventh Falmouth was finally able to get something going against Ladd as Matt Antonelli (Wake Forest, 3 for 5 batting) singled to begin the inning. After a sacrifice bunt got him to second, Mark Hamilton (Tulane, 2 for 5 batting, 2 RBI) singled to bring Antonelli around, giving Falmouth a one-run lead, which was all they would need. Sean Morgan (Tulane, 1 BB, 1 K) finished the Kettleers off, picking up his third save of the season and Krawczyk his second victory. Though it was a great game, it was disappointing for the Kettleers as they were unable to pull off the come-back victory. They will have a day off now with the all-star break before coming back to continue their playoff push.