With the sun setting behind the trees at Lowell Park in the seventh inning of Monday’s matchup between Bourne and Cotuit, the umpires and coaches of both teams came together for a meeting next to home plate. After the Braves recorded the final out of the seventh, home plate umpire Anthony Letizio gave a signal to the press box. The game was over.
The Braves and Kettleers, who each had very different performances, ended the matchup in a draw.
Bourne recorded only two hits in the contest, but maintained traffic on the base paths by drawing eight walks. Despite having several opportunities with runners on base, the Braves didn’t pick up a hit with runners in scoring position.
“We didn’t get timely hits. We had runners in scoring position I think four out of the first five innings and didn’t do much with it,” said Braves’ Field Manager Scott Landers. “We just gotta come back tomorrow, get some hits, and play it from there.”
Though the Braves’ offense struggled for most of the night, they received help from the Cotuit defense. The Kettleers’ committed four errors in the seven inning contest, including a pair of errors at third base in the fifth inning that gave Bourne a very important third run in the game.
Bourne's other two runs came in the fourth inning. After 3B Trent Caraway (LSU) led off the rally by drawing a walk, 2B Blake Schaaf (Wake Forest) laced a 2-1 pitch to the center field fence that brought Caraway in to score and put him at third. CF John Steutzer (Florida State) scored Schaaf in the next at-bat by chopping a ground ball to third for an RBI groundout.
On the mound for Bourne was a familiar face for the Kettleers; LHP Will Whelan (Minnesota). The southpaw, who played for the Braves last summer, threw 5.1 innings against Cotuit in game three of the West Division Finals last season to clinch Bourne’s birth in the championship series.
In his first appearance for Bourne this season, Whelan threw for three innings and allowed only one run and two hits. The one run came in the second inning, where he had trouble finding the strike zone. Whelan allowed three walks in the frame, the last coming with two outs and the bases loaded to force in a run. After a mound visit from Landers, Whelan struck out the next batter to end the inning.
“I just needed to settle him down a little bit and give him a reset. It’s hot out and he hasn’t been out there. He did his job,” said Landers about the mound visit.
“He came out there and reminded me that he believes in me. It gave me a breather to take a second to relax and reset,” said Whelan in a postgame interview.
The Kettleers added runs in the fourth and sixth innings, with the latter proving to be the score that clinched a tie for Cotuit. Though they had an opportunity to potentially walk it off in the bottom of the seventh, RHP Nick Robert (Miami) came in for Bourne and worked a 1-2-3 inning to keep the score even.
KEY PLAY
Will Whelan got himself into some trouble in the second inning, but managed to work his way out of it and keep the Braves in the game. After loading the bases and walking a run in, the lefty picked up a huge strikeout to end the inning and keep it a one-run ballgame.
BOURNEBRAVES.ORG PLAYER OF THE GAME
Tonight’s Player of the Game is Blake Schaaf. The Demon Deacons’ infielder provided most of the Bravos’ offense tonight with his RBI triple in the fifth inning. After bringing one run home, Schaaf managed to score on a ground ball to third to give Bourne the lead.
NEXT UP
The Braves will travel on the road again tomorrow night, taking on the Hyannis Harbor Hawks at McKeon Park. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. ET.
