by Evan Barber (Living the Dream Blog)
interviews by Andrew Brooks: Andrew Toles, Logan Vick, Steve Weber,
Coach Roberts (pregame), Coach Roberts, Coach Tom Myers
June 11, 2011
BREWSTER – For the second night in a row the Kettleers’ game was terminated prematurely due to darkness. Tonight however, it did not finish in a tie. The Brewster Whitecaps brought their bats and sent balls spraying all over Stony Brook Field as they sent the Kettleers back to Cotuit with a 12-6 loss.
With rain threatening it was questionable whether the game would start on time but when it did, the Kettleers got right to work. Patrick Biondi (Michigan) led off the night and battled his way to a walk. Next up was last night’s hero Kyle Wren (Georgia Tech) and Biondi took off running for second and slid in safely. Just two pitches later Biondi was back on his feet heading for third. The throw from Whitecaps’ catcher Taylor Davis (Morehead State) was in time but Biondi slid under the tag of a falling Steve Tkowski (Holy Cross) for his 4th steal of the young season. Wren then dropped down a perfectly executed suicide squeeze to drive in Biondi and make it 1-0 Cotuit.
It was a rough start for right hander Steve Weber (Eastern Michigan). Weber, who went 3 ⅔ innings gave up 10 hits and 6 earned, started the night strong. Weber got speedster Alvin Andrew Toles (Washington) to ground to second for an easy out. After Tanner Nivins (SUNY Stony Brook) was picked off trying to steal second, Weber struck out Preston Beck (Texas Arlington) to end the first. The 4th inning however woke up Brewster’s sleeping bats. Weber gave up half his hits in the fourth and 5 of his 6 earned runs.
Pitching has been the problem in Cotuit as the first two games have illustrated.
“We’ve got two much more experienced guys going tomorrow and we’re gonna let them pitch the way they did in school and if we still struggle we’re gonna make some major adjustments to the way we pitch.” Said Kettleers Manager Mike Roberts.
The Kettleer’s offensive production came few and far between scoring in just two of the 7 innings.
Biondi continued his speedy base-running in the 5th when Roberts called for a double steal with Biondi taking third and Wren advancing to second. A wild pitch allowed Biondi to score his second run of the game. Wren and designated hitter Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) followed on Jimmy Bosco’s triple to make it 6-4. It appeared that for the second night in a row the Kettleers were going to rally back from a big deficit.
The Whitecaps silenced all hopes of a rally in the 5th when they batted through the order to make it 12-4. Scoring all 6 runs with two outs.
“You’d like to hope that would be the personality all year but today was a day that we took advantage of pitches that were hittable with two outs and didn’t allow their guy to put us away. I think if guys are relentless throughout the inning then things like that can happen.” said Brewster Manager Tom Myers.
Patrick Lowry (Columbia) pitched 4 solid innings striking out 5 and giving up 4 earned on just 4 hits. Lowry mixed in a mean breaking ball with his hard fastball. But the pitcher of the game goes to Drew Steckenrider (Tennessee) who shut down the Kettleers in the 7th by striking out the side. The flame thrower had 4 k’s on the night and is definitely someone to keep your eyes on.
Cotuit welcomed the newest member of the team, Logan Vick (Baylor) today who woke up at 3 AM this morning to catch his flight and made it to Brewster for the game. Vick expressed excitement to get started.
The Kettleers look to rebound tomorrow at Lowell Park for a double header against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (2-0-0) The first game begins at 2pm and the second at 5.