By John S. Condakes
JUNE 20, 2008
COTUIT — After suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox last game, the Kettleers bounced back in a big way and handed the visiting Chatham A’s a 13-2 drubbing at Lowell Park. The game didn’t start very smoothly for last week’s Coca Cola Pitcher of the Week Nick Hernandez of Tennessee as the first two runners reached base however, both were caught leaning towards second base and were picked off. Hernandez would find his groove and gave up only one run over six innings of solid pitching with four strikeouts and two walks. Even though Hernandez had another strong outing, the story of the game was the Cotuit offense. Shortstop Robbie Shields of Florida Southern manufactured a run in the first inning.
After a single, Shields stole second, took third and scored on two wild pitches to put the Kettleers up 1-0 in the first and they would never look back. In the second inning, Auburn’s Mike Bianucci (2 for 5, HR and 4 RBI) continued to swing a hot bat as he deposited a two-run homerun to right centerfield to make the score 3-0 Cotuit. The Kettleers struck gold off of Chatham’s David Hale (Princeton) in the third inning as they plated five runs and sent ten men to the plate.
Jason Kipnis (Arizona State) got his first hit as a Kettleer with a single to lead off the inning. Designated hitter Dan Black (Purdue) drove in Kipnis with an RBI single. Black took second base on a wild pitch and third baseman Jeff Kobernus of Cal Berkeley plated him with an RBI single. The A’s went to the bullpen early and replaced Hale with Maine’s Kevin Scanlan with similar results. Left fielder Mike Bianucci (Auburn) welcomed Scanlan with an RBI double to the gap in right-center field to make it 6-0 Kettleers.
Cal Berkeley’s Brett Jackson got in on the hit parade with an RBI single. Catcher Robert Stock (USC) scored as Shields reached on an error and the inning ended 8-0 Cotuit. The Kettleers plated another run in the fourth as Patterson knocked in Black who singled from both sides of the plate in the contest (2 for 4, 3 runs) to make it 9-0. The Cotuit defense remained sharp as they helped Hernandez escape a jam in the top of the fifth as Shields, second baseman Dallas Poulk (NC State) and Patterson turned a double play to end the Chatham threat and keep them off the scoreboard but it wouldn’t last long as Victor Sanchez of San Diego plated Chatham’s first run off of Cotuit pitcher Daniel Wolford (Cal Berkeley) to make it 9-1 in the sixth inning.
The Kettleer bats came alive again in the bottom half of the inning with four more runs to finish the scoring for the home team. Patterson knocked in Black with another single and Bianucci hit in Kobernus on an RBI fielder’s choice. Shields beat out a grounder that plated Patterson and Bianucci to finish the scoring. Wolford allowed an unearned run in the eighth but finished with three strikeouts in two innings of solid relief. Clay Caulfield of the College of Charleston came on to pitch the ninth for the home team and was touched for two hits before retiring the final three batters in succession. The Kettleers will bring their 4-1 record to Harwich tomorrow to face the Mariners at 7 p.m.