By John S. Condakes
JUNE 16, 2008
BOURNE — After a rainout against Orleans on Sunday night, the bleak weather conditions didn’t bother the Kettleers one bit as the local nine traveled to Doran Field in Bourne Monday night and trounced the Braves 10-5 for their second win in as many tries. The Cotuit offense produced 14 hits and were led by UC-Berkeley’s Brett Jackson (3 for 5 with 3 RBI) and Auburn’s Kevin Patterson (2 for 3 with 4 RBI) each had huge nights to pace the Kettleer attack. Patterson sparked the Cotuit rally in the fourth inning with an RBI triple that plated Dallas Poulk (NC State) and Robbie Shields (Florida Southern). Jeff “Kobe” Kobernus of UC-Berkeley knocked in Patterson with an RBI single for the 3-0 lead. Kobernus scored on Mike Bianucci’s (Auburn) sacrifice fly to put the Kettleers up 4-0 after four. Jackson dazzled the crowd with his speed as he took advantage of a bad hop in the outfield and raced to an inside-the-park homerun, the first dinger of the season for Cotuit.
The score remained 5-0 in favor of the good guys until they erupted for three more runs in the seventh inning. The ominous clouds finally began to precipitate to what could only be described as “dripping fog” as Cotuit came to bat in the seventh. Bianucci led of the inning with a walk and scored shortly after on an RBI triple by catcher Robert Stock of USC. Jackson struck again with a single to bring home Stock to make the score 8-0 in favor of the Kettleers after six and a half. The story of the game wasn’t all offense, however as starter Brandon Cumpton of Georgia Tech hurled 4 strong innings of one-hit baseball to go along with 3 strikeouts and only one walk. Cumpton worked himself out of a jam in the fourth inning with a little bit of help from his defense as the Kettleers executed a double play to end the inning and stranded a Bourne runner at third. Nebraska’s Dan Jennings entered the game in the fifth inning and picked up right where Cumpton left off until he ran into some trouble in the seventh inning allowing 2 runs but finished strong and ended his 3 innings with 3 strikeouts and a walk as well while earning the win.
The Cotuit offense produced another run in the top of the eighth inning on Jackson’s third hit of the day, upping the lead to 9-2 and Bourne answered back with a run off of the College of Charlston’s Clay Caulfield in the bottom of the inning. Cotuit pushed across their tenth run on the evening when Patterson’s fourth RBI on the night came from a sacrifice fly that scored Poulk. Caulfield got himself into some trouble by walking two batters and two more runs scored on an error but the Kettleers were able to finish the job and win by a score of 10-5. Prior to the game three Cotuit players were released from their contracts. Michael Markakis, Michael Gilmartin and Stephen Batts’s careers as Kettleers have ended but they may end up on other Cape Cod League teams. Batts appeared in tonight’s contest batting third and starting in left field for the Braves. The Kettleers return to their home diamond at Lowell Park to take on the Wareham Gatemen at 5 p.m.