By Dylan Wolter
Syracuse University
6/13/2015
The Cotuit Kettleers (3-2) fell victim to a brutal first inning against the Chatham Anglers (3-1) in which the Anglers scored four of their five runs. The lead was too much to make up for the Kettleers as they remain winless at home.
Most of the damage came from a three run blast from opposing hitter, Zack Short (Sacred Heart). After the Anglers pushed one run across the board using some “small ball”, Short came up with runners on first and second. Duncan Robinson (Dartmouth) threw him a pitch he could hit. A fastball tailed into the barrel of Shorts bat, launching it over the left field fence and into the trees.
Short did not seem to think it was gone right away, “No I didn’t,” claimed an ecstatic Short, “because in batting practice the ball wasn’t going anywhere. I thought maybe I’d get two bases or three but then I saw the guy stop running and it turned out pretty nice.”
It was a shot that landed into the trees, past the left field fence, and gave the Anglers a quick 4-0 lead. The deficit proved too much for the Kettleers. Solid pitching from the Anglers limited the Cotuit bats that were only able to scratch a couple of runs late.
Manager Mike Roberts was disappointed with the intensity of his team from the start. Roberts faulted the team loss to a lack of aggression on the mound to go along with poor defense and baserunning.
“We really played very amateurish today,” claimed Roberts following the loss, “you saw the amateur side of college baseball. I don’t look at any particular player; we just got to play better as a team.”
Duncan Robinson, in his debut, started out the game and just didn’t seem to have his best stuff against the Anglers. He gave up seven hits in four innings while striking out four. Bernardo Flores (USC) and Nick Eicholtz (Alabama) also made their debuts against Chatham on Saturday. They both limited the damage and kept Cotuit in the ballgame.
Flores flashed his talent with a nasty cut fastball and a slurve that started at the oppositions head but ended in the dirt. The tall lefty pitched two innings, struck out three, walking none, and gave up one earned run.
“I felt good,” marked Flores who came in relief for Robinson in the 5th, “The ball was coming off my hand pretty well. It feels good to be back out there.”
Eicholtz was very effective for the Kettleers pitching three innings without giving up a run. He displayed his ability to get outs despite not having many swings and misses. Eicholtz struck out zero but only gave up three hits. His ability to keep the ball down in the zone limited hard contact for the Anglers.
The Kettleers were able to get a couple runs back in the last two innings thanks to RBI’s from Tim Susnara (Oregon) and Tanner Stanley (Richmond). It was not enough, however, as the Kettleers fell to their second game at home.
The Kettleers (3-2) will travel to Yarmouth-Dennis to play a double header against the 1-4 Red Sox.