Produced by Cierra Jordan
By: Matt McHugh
Northwestern University
July 11, 2017
COTUIT — The Kettleers (14-10-1) saw their winning streak snapped on Monday, and they saw their non-losing streak break on Tuesday as the Chatham Anglers (12-13) won 10-4 at Lowell Park.
Starting pitcher Seth Shuman (Georgia Southern) retired the side in the first inning, but was tagged for five runs in the second inning, giving up five hits and walking two, before being removed in favor of relief pitcher David Inman (Coastal Carolina) with two outs.
Seth Shuman (Georgia Southern) was the losing pitcher in Tuesday’s loss vs. Chatham.
“I didn’t have my greatest stuff out there tonight, but that’s part of baseball,” Shuman said. “I just gotta flush it and move on to the next game.”
The game’s slow pace early was also a challenge to overcome. Coach Mike Roberts said, “I thought early in the game, his rhythm is really slow. It took one hour to play the first two innings. Lack of rhythm was a big part of it that we need to work on.”
Shuman had his best outing of the season in his last start, throwing five innings and allowing one unearned run in Cotuit’s 5-3 win vs. Falmouth on July 4. However, his command was not the same on Tuesday, and that led to hard contact from the entire Chatham lineup.
“I thought he got to a point where he was just kind of throwing, not pitching,” Roberts said. “He was throwing too many breaking balls. It’s just one of those outings. Seth’s a great man, and I’m confident he’ll bounce back with a really good outing next time.”
Cotuit showed signs of a comeback in the bottom half of the second, with a two-run home run from right fielder Griffin Conine (Duke) – his sixth of the year.
Chatham responded with two runs in the third inning, scoring on a wild pitch from Inman and an RBI infield single from Josh Shaw (St. John’s) to extend their lead to 7-3. Shaw was safe on a bang-bang play at first base, and Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts was ejected for arguing the call. This was the first time all season that Roberts has been ejected, and Trey McCall took over as the acting head coach for the remainder of the game.
“All I wanted him to do was ask the home plate umpire,” Roberts said. “I never say anything bad, I just ask them why they make the call. It’s part of the game, but I’ll probably be a bit more patient next time out.
In the fourth inning, a two-run home run from Josh Stowers (Louisville) off of Brian Rapp (Boston College) extended Chatham’s lead to 9-3.
The Anglers went with left-hander Adam Wolf (Louisville) for 2.2 innings of middle relief and he was excellent – striking out five of the 12 batters he faced, and allowing one run on three hits. Wolf was pitching in just his second game with the Anglers, after joining the team late due to Louisville’s College World Series run.
The Kettleers added a run in the 7th inning on an RBI single from Michael Toglia (UCLA), who knocked in two runs in the game and stays red-hot in the cleanup spot. Centerfielder Greyson Jenista (Wichita State) raised his average to .329 with a 3-4 day, and also made a diving catch in his first game back in centerfield.
The Kettleers hit the road on Wednesday, as they will make the short trip to Hyannis to play the Harbor Hawks (9-13-2). The Anglers return home to host the Brewster Whitecaps.