COTUIT, Mass. — Offense was hard to come by in Friday's contest between the Cotuit Kettleers and Wareham Gatemen, until the ninth inning. The Ketts saw 10 runners reach base from the first inning through the eighth. But then, something changed.
Cotuit used two walks and a single to load the bases with one out and Landon Beaver (Alabama-Birmingham) due up. He had already walked twice leading up to this at-bat but was set up for another. On the fifth pitch, he took it for ball four as the hometown team walked in a run to tie it. The crowd exploded, but their work wasn't done.
Sean Martinez (Boston College) was next, looking for his first hit as a Kett. With a 1-1 count, the Eagle stood in the box ready to do damage. He did just that with a deep sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Nolan Stevens (Oklahoma) to score as the Kettleers came back from a one-run deficit to win, 3-2, against the Wareham Gatemen.
"There was a lot of resiliency from our team and everybody. Things weren't going well, but you keep hanging in there and playing, sometimes good things happen," Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs said. "I'm happy for our guys, it's a good team win."
Both pitching staffs were dealing for most of the game, especially Cotuit's Nick Wimberly (Florida Atlantic), who made his Kettleers debut in a must-win game. The right-handed pitcher was very effective in his start, tossing five innings of shutout baseball where he surrendered two hits and struck out four Gatemen.
"[Everything] was working well for me. My two-strike pitch could've been better, but I was getting ahead. Getting into those counts early helped me a lot," Wimberly said.
In the sixth inning, Kide Adetuyi (Florida Atlantic) took his spot and picked up where Wimberly left off, sitting down the opposition in order. However, the next inning was not as kind to the Owls hurler. He surrendered three hits and two runs to give Wareham a 2-0 lead.
The Kettleers countered that score in the bottom of the frame when Beaver walked for the second time of the day, this one with the bases loaded to bring in a run.
The bases were still juiced with Martinez up to the dish in a big spot. The second baseman ripped a hard line drive up the middle of the infield, but it was caught by a Gateman who tagged second base to double off Zan Von Schlegell (St.Thomas) to end the inning.
Adetuyi plunked a batter in the top of the eighth, and it was the end of his day as Cotuit brought in John Mitchell (Boston College), who got out of the inning unscathed.
After another scoreless frame in the ninth, the Ketts were down to their final three outs while losing 2-1. A groundout to begin the frame made it seem like their bats would again go down quietly, but that’s not how it went.
They rallied to load the bases again for Beaver, who drew his third free pass of the night to tie things at two apiece. That’s when Martinez walked up looking to avenge his bad fortune a few innings prior.
In a 1-1 count, he hit a deep sac fly to the left fielder, whose throw wasn’t in time as the winning run came in to score from third base, clinching a 3-2 win for the Kettleers.
“It feels amazing [to walk it off]. We’ve struggled a little bit since I got here, but I stayed within myself and continued to do my thing,” Martinez told Cotuit sideline reporter Brooke Killgore.
Notes
Wimberly and Adetuyi made their Kettleers debuts against Wareham and combined for seven innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts.
Von Schlegell turned in another multihit game on Friday, the second consecutive one for him.
With Falmouth losing against Bourne, Cotuit can clinch a playoff spot on Saturday with either a Kettleers win or a Commodores loss.
Looking ahead
Cotuit will be at home one final time during the regular season on Saturday against the Bourne Braves. First pitch from Lowell Park is at 4:30 p.m.
