Cotuit, Mass. – With home-field advantage and the No. 2 seed already locked up for the one-game West Division Semifinal on Tuesday. The Cotuit Kettleers had no pressure when the Bourne Braves came into town and were just trying to get a look at some of their new arms, while also winning a ballgame.
While the Ketts did get to see four new pitchers who did a solid job on the bump, the starting pitcher was shelled, and Cotuit could not recover. As the Ketts dropped the final regular-season game, 11-5.
Cotuit has gone ice cold right before the playoffs, losing seven of its last 10 and being bottom five in scoring and ERA in the last 15 days.
“Sometimes teams have bad weeks and then completely turn it around the next, and that’s just baseball,” Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts said. “I don’t think you wash your hands of it but rather learn from your mistakes. That’s what I was explaining to our pitchers and trying to teach them about what they could have done better at, and I think that’s what you must do for games like this.”
Aidan Hunter (College of Charleston) sat the Braves down in the first inning but could not find that same success in the next frame. Bourne bullied Hunter in the second to the tune of five runs including a grand slam by John Schroeder (Florida Atlantic), his first home run of the summer.
The very next inning, Hunter was taken deep on the first batter to put the Braves up by half a dozen and end the right-handed pitcher’s day on the mound. His final line was six runs, five hits and three walks through just two innings.
Joe Sabbath (Central Connecticut) came into the game and gave up a base hit and run via a balk but retired the final two batters to end the top of the third.
Just when the game seemed out of reach, the Kettleer bats came alive, starting with a Brandon Compton (Arizona State) leadoff home run. That was followed by a Charles Davalan (Arkansas) two-run double with an error that placed the Razorback on third. He would later come in to score on a passed ball to cut the deficit to three runs.
In the fifth, Bourne continued to pile it on with a three-run frame where Shroeder mashed his second long ball of the game, this one a two-run shot.
A half inning later Temo Becerra (Stanford) laced a long single at the Bourne right fielder, scoring Davalan and cutting into the lead. That effort would be countered by Bourne, who turned around and scored in the top of the sixth from an RBI groundout to go up 11-5.
Over the final three innings, the Kettleers had several opportunities to get runners home but were unable to do so. As the sun began to set, the game was called early due to darkness, ending in just the eighth inning as the Kettleers dropped the regular-season finale at Lowell Park, 11-5.
“I told the guys congrats, they finished second in the division and we’re going to host a playoff game,” Roberts said. “They’ve done a marvelous job considering that we have had 69 players through the team this year. I also just told them to enjoy Tuesday, don’t put pressure on yourself.”
Notes
Jarren Advincula did not play Sunday (rest day), and nobody caught up to his batting average. So, he has been crowned the 2024 CCBL Batting Champion with a .392 average.
Harry Deliyannis and Bryce McKnight threw in their first game as Kettleers and turned in a solid performance — four strikeouts, two walks and no runs through two innings of work.
The Cotuit offense had another good game Sunday, scoring five runs. It's the seventh time in the last 10 games that the Ketts have plated five-plus runs.
Looking ahead
Following the game Sunday, Cotuit will have a rest day on Monday before they pick back up on Tuesday to play the Wareham Gatemen in a win-or-go-home playoff game at Lowell Park. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
