Cotuit Keeps Grip on First Place Atop the Western Division

By Megan Kerr/Asst. Web Editor
July 17, 2006

COTUIT, MA — The Cotuit offense, powered by Eric Farris (Loyola Marymount, 3 for 4, 3 RBI), came back to life to lead the Kettleers to a five to one victory over the struggling Bourne Braves. Cotuit bats woke up after an uncharacteristic shutout at home yesterday as the Kettleers continue to lead the Western Division with a 17-7-1 record. The Kettleers jumped on Braves starting pitcher Kyle Walker (Texas, 6BB, 6H, 5K), who picked up his first loss of the season, from the very beginning as Farris came to the plate with runners on third and second with two outs. With the count in his favor at two and one, Farris singled to bring in Jeff Rea (Mississippi St, 0 for 3) and Reese Havens (South Carolina, 2 for 4) to give the Kettleers a two-run lead.

While Michael Cisco (Tennessee, 2BB, 3K, 5H) contained the Braves attack to pick up his second victory of the season, allowing only one run over five innings, Farris continued to come up big for the Kettleers as he helped Cotuit to build on its lead in the fifth inning. Havens led off the fifth with a single and then moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Sean Gaston (Notre Dame, 0 for 4) to put him in scoring position for Farris. Farris came through as he doubled to bring in Havens and then scored himself on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Russell (Texas, 0 for 2, 1 RBI) after moving over to third on an error by the pitcher Walker.

Bourne was able to tag Cisco for a run in the bottom of the fifth as Ty Wright (Oklahoma State, 2 for 4, 1 RBI) hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Drew Davis (Elon, 0 for 1), but the Braves were unable to mount a comeback as they were unable to figure out either of the Cotuit relievers. Cotuit added one more run in the bottom of the ninth as Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison, 1 for 4, 1 RBI), who led the nation in homeruns with 24, hit his first homerun of the season off of Bourne reliever Chris Salberg (Florida Atlantic, 0BB, 2K, 2H) to give the Kettleers a five to one lead.

Cotuit had some trouble closing out the Braves in the bottom of the ninth as Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech, 1BB, 0K, 2H) loaded the bases, getting no one out and forcing Coach Roberts to bring in Cory Gearrin (Young Harris, 0BB, 2K, 0H) to finish the game for the Kettleers. Gearrin struck out the first two batters and then forced Matt Hall (Arizona State, 0 for 1) to ground out to the second baseman to secure Cotuit’s seventeenth victory on the season. Cotuit now travels to play a makeup game against Yarmouth-Dennis as the Kettleers look to continue to build on their lead in the Western Division.