By Sam Blum
July 13, 2014
COTUIT – Jordan Ebert had come up with the bases loaded in the third inning and popped the ball up on the infield.
When the same situation arose in the fifth inning, he didn’t miss the opportunity.
Ebert, who was playing his first game with Cotuit on the season, knocked a no-doubt-about-it grand slam over the left field wall and into a horde of fans lounging in beach chairs. After touching home plate he mimicked the celebration of former Auburn Tiger Cam Newton, motioning to tear off his jersey.
“I haven’t really been hitting or fielding in a long time, so I didn’t want to go o 0-for with a bunch of strikeouts,” Ebert said. “It felt pretty cool”
The hit capped off a seven-run fifth inning and powered Cotuit to a 13-2 win against Yarmouth-Dennis at Lowell Park on Sunday. It was the second-straight win for the Kettleers.
“We had a (third inning) where we had the bases loaded and nobody out, and didn’t get anything,” manager Mike Roberts said. “So you’re hopeful that you come out of it.”
The inning started with a Jeremy Taylor single, and the first run crossed three batters later on a seeing-eye single to right field from Rhett Wiseman. Jameson Fisher walked on four pitches. Then Jake Fincher brought in a run when a throw from third base to home sailed wide of the bag.
The score was 3-1, and the Red Sox had yet to record an out.
When Ebert came up, there were two outs, and Cotuit still led by just two. The Kettleers were at risk of letting a potentially huge inning get away from them.
But Ebert made sure that Cotuit took advantage.
For the second straight night, the pitching did its job, and gave Cotuit a chance. And while the Kettleers’ bats went silent for the first four innings, even missing out on a bases-loaded, no-out opportunity in the third, they finally woke up and turned a pitcher’s duel into a laugher.
In the seventh inning, Cotuit tacked on six more runs for good measure. Ebert started the rally off with an RBI single. And Jackson Glines capped it with a two-RBI double into the gap.
“We know what we can do,” said Taylor who had three hits. “We have 13 runs. It makes it easy to win that way.”
Just one day after the Kettleers had their bats get started in the late part of the game to get a win, they did so again in a much bigger way.
All season poor starting pitching and defense has been the Achilles’ heel for the Kettleers. Today, they took advantage of it on the other side for their biggest win of the season.
And it all stemmed from Ebert’s bat.
“After my first swing, I had a lot of confidence, I was seeing it pretty good,” Ebert said. “Being able to get off the plane and see the ball pretty well today felt good.”
UP NEXT: Cotuit travels to Orleans for a 7 p.m. matchup on Monday.
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