While the CCBL season is very unpredictable, there is one thing fans can count on when watching a Cotuit game. If they play Bourne, the game will be close. The first time the teams faced, the game finished tied 3-3. The second matchup saw extra-innings required in a 4-3 win for the Braves. The third matchup Tuesday was no different, with Bourne again eking out another 4-3 win in the eighth inning.
The definitive play in the eighth inning originated with Dylan Wood (Arizona State) walking Rustan Rigdon (Vanderbilt). Rigdon, the stolen base leader for Bourne, then swiped second base. Wood bore down, getting consecutive outs. However, it was all for naught. He then lost his control, giving up consecutive walks. A wild pitch on the next at-bat allowed Rigdon to score, breaking a 2-2 tie before a hit-by-pitch upped the Braves’ lead to two.
Wild pitches were a problem all day for Cotuit, with Kettleer pitchers throwing three that conceded two of the four Bourne runs. Especially in a game where former bullpen catcher Tyler Bellan (Wheaton) played near-perfect defense, these wild pitches enabled the Braves to take more than they should from the Cotuit defense.
Bourne was both the first and last team to notch a run on the scoreboard. Consecutive baserunners reached to open the top of the third, with Austin Hawke (Wake Forest) stealing third base to put himself in position to score. With one out Rigdon put a charge into a flyball, sending it deep enough that Hawke was able to score tagging up.
But, Cotuit would respond in the bottom half of the frame. Consecutive walks from Bellan and Noah Coy (Notre Dame) opened the inning, before Dawson Park (LSU) blasted a double to the wall that scored a run. Following another walk, Brady Christman (Mississippi State) did a job and brought a run in on a double-play groundout.
Like clockwork, the Braves attacked the Kettleer lead in the following inning. A single from Luke Costello (South Carolina) and a double from Josiah Overbeek (Mississippi State) put Bourne in a good spot to start the fourth inning. Then, a wild pitch from Cotuit debutant Mason Holloway (Binghamton) allowed Costello to score and even the game up at two.
While the first half of the game had its offensive-heavy moments, the performance of starting pitcher Landen Doll (Marshall) should not be forgotten. The southpaw used a combination of his fastball and breaking ball to strike out five in just 3.2 innings, only allowing three hits.
“I thought [Doll] did a really nice job,” Coach Rob Cooper said. “The guy competed hard and did a great job starting at-bats with strikes and getting ahead of the count to set up strikeouts.”
From there, the game was scoreless until the fateful eighth inning. Holloway and Chase Van Ameyde (Michigan State) went a combined 3.1 innings with zero earned runs for the Kettleers, while Owen Hancock (Ole Miss) and Connor Lehman (Alabama) did the same in 3.2 innings for the Braves.
After the disastrous top of the eighth inning, Cotuit still fought to even the score. An Aiden Aguayo (UCLA) double followed by a walk from Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati) put ducks on the pond for Coy. He singled to bring home Aguayo, putting the Kettleers just one run away from a tie ballgame. Unfortunately, closer Ben Dean (Duke) worked a strikeout to end the game with some help from the darkness at Lowell Park.
After four wins in five games, Cotuit had rolled into this home affair with some real momentum. Yet, they still failed to conquer the division-leading Braves for the third time. While the Kettleers have shown they are an improved team from the early part of the season, there are clearly some areas the team has to work on to beat the top dogs. Nonetheless, the competition Cotuit showed today proves the improvement is real and happening by the day.
“It was a good game today,” Cooper said. “We gave them some freebies with the walks and wild pitches that we can’t do in a close game, but we fought and had a chance to beat the division leaders through the last inning.”
The Kettleers hit the road Wednesday as part of a two-game road stretch. Cotuit opens this stretch at Brewster, with first pitch at Stony Brook Field taking place at 5:00 p.m. EST and the projected starting pitcher being Adam McKelvey (Georgia Tech).
