By Matt Schneidman
June 25, 2014

Casey Schroeder (Polk State JC) tapped his right arm while looking at the Cotuit bench as if to signal something was wrong.

Both head coach Mike Roberts and Schroeder approached Sam Tewes (Wichita State) on the mound, and the righty was removed from the game with an apparent arm injury.

He exited Wednesday’s eventual 8-0 loss against Brewster (6-8) after allowing four consecutive hits in the second inning, with Cotuit (6-8) trailing 4-0 and only one out in the frame. But the deficit was the Kettleers’ least concern because as Tewes unraveled in the inning, so may have his season.

“My fingers just kind of started tingling,” Tewes said. “I couldn’t really grip the ball real well and I wasn’t comfortable, felt like I was hurting the team more than helping.

“I don’t really know much about (the injury). We’re going to take a look at it tomorrow.”

Before Wednesday, Tewes had turned in two solid performances on the mound for Cotuit.

On June 14 in a 2-1 victory over Yarmouth-Dennis, he earned the win, throwing 3.1 shutout innings, while only allowing two hits and one walk. In a 3-0 loss to Orleans on June 20, Tewes threw five innings – the longest stretch any Cotuit pitcher has lasted – allowing a respectable two runs and striking out four.

Roberts said Tewes – whose dad is an orthopedic surgeon – will return home to Nebraska to get an expert opinion on the injury. He had an ace bandage wrapped around his forearm and past his elbow after the game, as he explained how he just wasn’t able to get through the pain on the mound.

“You really don’t know until they go home and basically do an MRI,” Roberts said. “Any time you’ve got a little bit of an issue like that, the coaches will shut him down, take him home, take a look at what it is.”

Tewes’ injury comes at a poor time for Cotuit, whose pitching staff has struggled as of late, allowing 38 runs in the last five games.

Roberts has already released several pitchers and especially when he’s trying to narrow down the staff to a group that will be his “regular” arms, it is only a hindrance to lose one of his best.

“Obviously, we’ve got to revamp our pitching staff,” Roberts said. “We knew we had to continue to do that anyway, but I certainly hate to lose him.”