story by Steve McCarthy
July 9, 2009
COTUIT – For the Cotuit Kettleers pitching staff Thursday, the 9-1 loss to the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox had the makings of an All-Star game gone wrong.
The Kettleers (8-10-2) trotted out seven different pitchers, the longest lasting just three innings, while the Red Sox pounded out 16 hits and cruised through six shutout innings by starting pitcher Chris Sale (Florida Gulf Coast).
Sale (3-1) struck out eight batters and walked two, improving his strikeout to walk ratio on the season to 38-6 through 34 innings pitched. Sale’s strikeout total continues to lead the Cape League.
“I’m just trying to work on pounding the zone,” Sale said. “You can’t really worry about, ‘Well what if I walk this guy’, or ‘I’m going to try to strike this guy out.’ You just kind of go out there and attack the zone and it will work out for itself.”
Jordan Casas (Long Beach St.) scored three runs from the leadoff spot and paces Y-D with 19. Josh Rutledge (Alabama) led Y-D’s attack with three hits. Four others had multiple-hit games, while only one hit went for extra bases.
“I thought they put good swings on the ball tonight,” Y-D manager Scott Pickler said. “I thought they swung the bat pretty well. I thought we had some guys that had good approaches at the plate, who were patient early in which they had to be, and then when they got the ball over the plate we took advantage of it.”
Losing pitcher Navery Moore (0-1,Vanderbilt) walked three of the four batters he faced to start the game and hit the other with a pitch. All four came around to score, beginning with clean-up hitter Tyler Hanover’s (LSU) walk with the bases loaded. Mickey Wiswall (Boston College) then drove in two with a single up the middle, and Hanover scored on an RBI-single by Rutledge.
Moore was replaced by Jeff Walters (Georgia), who walked Casas with the bases loaded in his second at bat off the inning, allowing Wiswall to cross for the fifth Y-D run in the first frame.
The Red Sox (13-10) opened up an 8-0 lead facing Cotuit right-hander Andres Caceres (Connors St. JC) in the third inning with a two RBI-single by Jake Schlander (Stanford), who replaced Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) after Wates was hit on the arm by Moore’s pitch in the first inning. Hanover then drove in Casas from third with a base hit.
After three solid innings thrown by Cotuit reliever Craig Fritsch (Baylor), in which the Red Sox were held off the scoreboard, Y-D scored their final run in the seventh inning on another RBI-single by Schlander off of southpaw Matt Grace (UCLA) to bring in Casas.
Cotuit managed to spoil the shutout in their final at bat when they loaded the bases with a pair of singles and a walk, and Kevin Keyes (Texas) pushed Brandon May (Alabama) across with an infield base hit.
Darrin Campbell (San Diego) pitched two scoreless innings of relief to follow Sale’s outing. Scott Lyman (UC Davis) then allowed the lone Cotuit run in the ninth.
Cotuit had eight total hits, all from different batters.
The Kettleers will face the Hyannis Mets for the fifth time this season on Friday at Hyannis’ McKeon Park. First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m.