By Courtney Swift
Kettleers Media Intern
July 30, 2012

COTUIT – Despite the constant drizzle, Cotuit captured a 1-0 win Sunday over the YD Red Sox. Joe Broussard threw his longest outing of the season before Cotuit took the lead and the win on one Red Sox miscue in the seventh. The performance helped the Kettleers to their eighth straight win and a 2012 playoff birth.

Just one day after the All-Star game ended in a 1-1 tie, both teams kept themselves in another tight game. “You don’t see too many of these,” coach Mike Roberts said of the rainy conditions. “Where you’ve got a low ceiling, kind of cool, rainy and having to deal with a lot of elements out there.”

Tony Kemp’s double play backed up solid pitching. / Photo by Joe Cavanaugh

Joe Broussard (LSU) got his third start of the season Sunday for Cotuit, and was able to build upon his strong, four-inning outing last week. “My changeup, I threw that a lot tonight,” Broussard said. “I tried to keep the ball down, spotted my fast ball up. The defense played great, picked me up every time I didn’t make the right pitch.”

Broussard threw 6 1/3 innings against the Red Sox scattering just four hits on the night. He struck out four and walked two helping the Kettleers win their eighth straight. “The key to it was their changeups,” Roberts said speaking of Broussard and teammate Dusty Issacs’ most recent outing. “They stayed ahead in the count, so they kept their pitch count down reasonably well.”

Cameron Griffin (Stetson) and Ryan Connolly (Coastal Carolina) also saw some time on the mound, and Griffin picked up the win. Both helped the Kettleers complete a rain shortened, 7 1/2-inning shutout.

Andrew Thurman (UC Irvine) started for YD also throwing an impressive 6 1/3 innings. However, YD broke first in the bottom of the seventh allowing the Kettleers to take the lead. Thurman also allowed just four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Patrick Biondi (Michigan) has been a game-changer all season for the Kettleers. The same was true Sunday when he reached on a hustle play to first base to get things started in the seventh. Biondi then stole second before Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) walked to put two runners on with one out. One batter later, Jacob Valdez (San Jose State) also walked to load the bases for pinch hitter, Derek Smith (Pitt Bradford). Biondi scored the game’s only run on a pass ball by relief pitcher AJ Vanegas (Stanford). “We got a break without a doubt,” Roberts said. “We were fortunate.”

The Kettleers (23-12) have now won eight in a row and have the best record in the league. “After we played in that 14-inning game, right now we’re on a hot streak,” Broussard said. “We’ve got so much confidence in ourselves we feel like we can’t lose. We’re all playing so good together, and hopefully we can just keep it going.” Cotuit has now won 15 of their last 17 games and has clinched a playoff spot.

The loss for YD puts them at 19-17 on the season. Cotuit plays at Lowell Park Monday against Chatham (17-18) at 5 p.m. Starting August 1, in a make up game against Brewster, home games will begin at 4:30 p.m. For more post game interviews, visit Official Kettleers on YouTube.