By Jon Mettus
June 11, 2015
BOURNE — As Matt Dacey (Richmond) stepped to the plate, assistant coach Noah Scott stood along the first base line clapping his hands and yelling, “Come on Dacey, right in the gap.”
Dacey lined one over the second baseman’s head into the gap in right-center field, bringing Keenan Innis (Georgia Tech), who was on second, home. After a Will Haynie (Alabama) groundout, Michael Paez (Coast Carolina) drilled a liner into left field, sending Dacey home easily with a double.
“We’re going to get our (butts) handed to us,” a Braves fan yelled from the crowd.
The Cotuit bats struck early and often, scoring three runs in the first two innings and totaling 12 hits overall as the Kettleers (2-1) beat the Bourne Braves (0-3), 7-2, at Doran Park on Thursday. Cotuit didn’t overpower Bourne, but executed “small ball” to get runners across the plate.
“It was good to get ahead and kind of cruise the rest of the game,” Gene Cone (South Carolina) said.
In the top of the first, Matt Albanese (Bryant) singled on a soft line drive into center, then scored on a Cone blooper into left field that fell for a hit, putting Cotuit ahead 1-0.
Albanese high-fived his teammates while walking into the dugout and tossed his helmet to Kennan Innis, who was standing on the field.
In the second, Innis reached on a leadoff bunt that rolled past the pitcher. He moved to second on a bunt from Brody Weiss (Riverside Community College) before scoring on Dacey’s line drive.
The Kettleers took a 3-0 lead in the top of the second.
“The bunting was very good,” Cone said. “It was very effective tonight.”
When Spencer Gaa (Bradley) led off the fifth with a double, Albanese bunted to move him to third. Cone struck out, but a wild pitch slid past the catcher to the backstop and Gaa raced to the plate from third, barely beating the tag from the pitcher.
The umpire paused, the dust cleared and he waved his arms safe. Cone stood safely at first, too, as Cotuit took a 4-2 lead.
In the sixth, Innis and Weiss led with grounders to the left side, but Innis’ ground ball reached left field past a diving shortstop and Weiss’ hit was played for an infield single. Dacey smacked a ball deep into the right field corner, scoring Innis as cheers erupted from the Kettleers fans.
Paez knocked in a run with another groundball single to the left side of the infield, making it 6-2, and Gaa grounded into a double play to allow Dacey to score Cotuit’s final run.
“We’re not going to show power and so they must maneuver the baseball and they maneuvered the baseball tonight,” head coach Mike Roberts said.
Cotuit rebounded one night after being shutout and held to just two hits by Hyannis. Roberts added that he isn’t satisfied and is looking for the hitters to be more consistent.
The Kettleers (2-1) travel to Arnie Allen Diamond on Friday to take on the Falmouth Commodores (1-2) at 6 p.m.