Cotuit Remains On Top of Western Division by Five Points in Title Chase
By Megan Kerr/Asst. Web Editor
July 20, 2006
BREWSTER, MA — Cotuit lost a close contest to the Brewster Whitecaps as the Kettleers offense wasn’t able to gain any momentum in the 3-1 ballgame.
Cotuit’s opponent was again the first to strike as Dave Duncan (Georgia Tech, 3BB, 3K, 6H) finally cracked I nthe fourth inning. With two outs, Michael Fisher (Georgia Tech, 1 for 3) singled and then David Cooper (CSF, 4 for 4, 1 RBI) hit a double to pick up his sixth RBI of the season and to give the Whitecaps a one run lead over the Kettleers. Cotuit’s offence responded right away as they came right back to tie the score at one apiece in the top of the fifth inning.
Kyle Russell (Texas, 0 for 3) led off the inning against Whitecaps starter Scott Maine (Miami, 2BB, 5K, 7H) with a walk and was followed by Brett Lilley (Notre Dame, 0 for 1) who also walked to put a runner in scoring position. After Maine struck out Jeffrey Rea (Mississippi St, 0 for 5) for the first out of the inning, Justin Smoak came up to the plate and doubled to bring in Russell to tie the game up. With that RBI, Smoak now has a team leading seventeen RBI’s on the season, but Cotuit was unable to add any more runs in the inning as Maine regained control of the game by putting forcing the next two Kettleers to harmlessly pop out.
After Maine was able to contain the surging Cotuit attack, Brewster came right back to put some major pressure on Duncan in the bottom of the fifth. Ryan Babineau (UCLA, 1 for 3, 1 RBI) walked to lead off the inning and then was brought home by Colin Cowgill (Kentucky, 1 for 4, 1 RBI) to give the Whitecaps a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Brewster added an insurance run in the sixth inning off of Cotuit reliever Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech, 0BB, 1K, 4H) and the two run lead was too much for Cotuit’s offence to overcome as Whitecaps pitchers were able to contain the Kettleers attack.
Adam McDaniel (Georgia, 1BB, 1K, 0H) came on in the ninth to finish off the game for the Whitecaps, which he was able to do to give the Whitecaps their seventeenth victory of the season and McDaniel his sixth save of the season. Cotuit now returns home where they hope to regain their winning ways and stay on top of the Western Division.