by Andrew Brooks (Living the Dream Blog)
Interview by Andrew Brooks: Coach Roberts
August 2, 2011
The weather was something of biblical proportions. With how resilient the Kettleers had been over the past week by staying alive and finding ways to make a playoff push, it had to be God who was going to stop them. No earthly force seemed to be getting in there way.
The loss coupled with the Falmouth win over Hyannis officially knocked them out of the playoff hunt. Considering that the club had gone to the finals for the past three years, the loss didn’t feel real to Coach Mike Roberts.
“It’s kind of tough, we’ve been in the championship game the last three years, and I honestly never thought that we would end up in last place. But it just goes to show that I’ve got to do a better job of coaching, teaching, and pulling us together as a team.”
Early on Cotuit looked like it was going to continue the wizardry. Logan Vick (Baylor) plated the first run off of Brewster starter Scott Griggs (UCLA) by hitting a sac fly that scored Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) in the first inning. Starter RJ Fondon (FIU) threw only eight pitches in the frame to retire the Whitecaps in order.
But as the game wore on, the Brewster bats came to life. They finished with ten total hits, six of which were doubles. After knotting the game at one in the second inning, they had a key three-run fourth that would inevitably be enough for Brewster to get the win. Ryan Jones (Michigan State) drove in Taylor Ard (Washington State) on a sacrifice fly. Two batters later Chase Anselment (Washington) doubled home Devon Rodriguez (Cal) and Tanner Nivins (Stony Brook) giving Brewster the 4-1 lead.
After answering back with a run in the fifth, Cotuit didn’t put together another real threat until the eighth.
In what seemed like another situation of the stars aligning for Cotuit, All-Star Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs. The hope was short lived as the first pitch Roache saw he turned into a harmless grounder to short.
In the ninth JT Chargois (Rice) gave up a single to Ryon Healy (Oregon) with one out followed by a screaming single by Alex Yarbrough. Kevin Roundtree then hit a lazy fly ball to left bringing Torsten Boss to the plate with two outs and everything Cotuit had worked for all season hinging on his bat. But before he got his shot a healthy dose of lightning began to turn violent and the game had to be called.
Coach Roberts stated that he needs to find more elite pitching and defense when putting together next year’s club.
“We are leading the league in hitting, but we’re in last place. So once again the baseball theory holds true. Pitching, defense, and a little bit of speed wins. So we’ll try to be stronger on the pitching and defensive side.”
Cotuit will play its last game of the year tomorrow against Brewster at Lowell Park. The scheduled start time is 4:30.