FALMOUTH, Mass. – On a night when fireworks lit up the Cape, the Cotuit Kettleers’ streak was dulled.
“This is the first time all summer I felt like we were fatigued,” head coach Loren Hibbs said. “It’s not an excuse. (Falmouth) played well.”
Despite out-hitting the Falmouth Commodores 5-3, the Kettleers lost 3-1 in this year’s Fourth of July game.
Both teams experienced deja vu of last night in the first inning when Carl Schmidt plated the Commodores’ first run, this time on a fielder’s choice.
That score would be the only similarity between the two contests, as the Kettleers couldn’t crawl back from the initial 1-0 deficit.
After letting up a run in the first inning, starting pitcher Reed Moring (UC Santa Barbara) settled in on the mound. In his next three innings of work, the right-handed pitcher surrendered just one more run, which came on an RBI single from Kent Schmidt in the fourth.
Even though this game can be considered a pitcher’s duel, Falmouth starter Matthew Dallas and his bullpen got the best of the recently red-hot Cotuit bats.
“(Dallas) was really good,” Hibbs said. “He’s throwing a slider at any point in time.”
The Kettleer bullpen continued its dominance this summer and pitched four innings of no-hit, one-run baseball from the arms of Dylan Scudder (Bryant), Kyle Remington (Illinois) and Ryan Buckler (Florida Atlantic).
The Kettleers got on the board in the seventh inning, courtesy of last night’s walk-off hero Jarren Advincula (Georgia Tech). The future Yellow Jacket brought Case Sanderson (Nebraska) home on a single after the Cornhusker shot a double into center field.
In the top of the eighth, Caden Bogenpohl (Missouri State) was tapped to pinch hit for DH Jack Natili (Cincinnati). On the fifth pitch of his at-bat, the Bear rocketed the ball to right. From a distance, it seemed like the ball was going to drop and the rising junior was going to pick up at least two bases.
Antonio Morales (Wake Forest) had other plans and laid his body out to rob what would have been the Ketts’ second extra base hit of the game.
The Commodores tagged on a cushion run in the bottom of the eighth on a sac-fly from Kent Schmidt (Georgia Tech) to plate Morales, putting Falmouth up 3-1.
The Kettleers will look to get back into the win column at Lowell Park Saturday afternoon against Brewster at 5:00 p.m..
