By Matt Feldman
Syracuse University

July 21, 2016

The Kettleers (11-22-1) were dominated from start to finish Thursday night at home against the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox (22-12). The Red Sox won, 12-2, and outhit the Kettleers 18 to eight. Cotuit had six errors in the loss, tying it’s season worst in that category.

Five straight losses

First, it was a 6-5 extra-inning loss at Bourne on Saturday night. Then came two straight losses to Falmouth which saw the Kettleers outscored 15-0 on Sunday and Monday. After an off day Tuesday, the same narrative played out on Wednesday, as Cotuit was slighted by Chatham, 2-1. And on Thursday night, the Kettleers stumbled in a 12-2 loss to Y-D, good for Cotuit’s fifth straight loss. The Kettleers are still the only team in the Cape League with over 20 losses (Chatham has exactly 20).

“Eventually, most of (the Ketteers), if not all of (them), are going to run into this in pro baseball somewhere down the road,” Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts said. “(I told them), ‘What’s your attitude gonna be, how are you gonna go about it?’. And the thing that I’m watching the most is how hard they play.”

With just 10 games left in the 2016 campaign, Roberts’ side is sitting seven points— three and a half games— behind Bourne, who holds the final playoff spot in the West. With a win Thursday night, Falmouth (22-12) became the first, and only (so far), West division team to clinch a playoff spot.

Erickson will be a mid-inning reliever

After Wednesday night’s loss to Chatham, it was announced that Jacob Erickson (San Diego State) would be heading to the Kettleers via the Cal Ripken League. In remarking about Erickson’s arrival, Roberts said he had “never seen (Erickson) throw” and really the only person with any knowledge on him at all was Jonathan Waterman, the Scout-GM liason intern for the Kettleers.

After posting a 1.66 ERA with the D.C. Grays and a record of 4-3, Erickson made his first appearance for Cotuit Thursday night. the five-foot-nine left hander wasn’t overpowering— he sat in the mid-high 70s MPH with just a few pitches over 80— and he allowed four runs, two of them earned, in his two and two-thirds innings pitched. He allowed four hits.

“He’s a crafty little left hander, I love those type of guys. They’ve learned how to pitch, they’re great for college baseball,” Roberts said.

Roberts said that he will likely use Erickson as a mid-inning reliever, especially when a team has three of four lefthanders in a row in the lineup, like Y-D did. Otherwise, he said the lefty won’t see much action unless it’s situational.