Cotuit, Mass. – It was a tough Friday night for the Cotuit Kettleers when they took the field against Bourne at Lowell Park. Cotuit couldn’t piece together either phase of baseball after starting pitcher Joey Volchko (Stanford) left in the sixth inning.
The Kettleer bullpen gave up six runs along with the offense sputtering, leading to an 8-1 loss at home. It was just the fourth loss at Lowell Park in July.
“We’ve got a lot of new parts to the team with so many players coming and going and I’m still figuring them out,” Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts said. “Today was Andrew Behnke’s (Tennessee) last game with us so I wanted him to get on the mound for us so I can get a look at some other guys too with us having eight games in eight coming days.
At the beginning of the game, runs were hard to come by. The Braves only scored two off Volchko, with both coming in the first inning. It started with a Braden Holcomb (Vanderbilt) sac fly and then a Tristan Bissetta (Clemson) RBI double to put Bourne up by a pair of runs.
Finally, in the third, The Kettleers got on the board when Temo Becerra (Stanford) drew a leadoff single, then advanced to second on a passed ball. Tanner Thach (UNC Wilmington) would continue his dominant season by plating Becerra on an RBI single that rolled to the outfield.
Both teams continued to battle it out but couldn’t manufacture any runs due to the phenomenal job of both starting pitchers. Volchko, however, stood out between the two by going five innings of work, allowing two runs, striking out eight and hurling 94 pitches in his gem of a start.
“The fire in his eyes and the way he goes about the game has MLB written all over it,” Roberts said of Volchko. “He understands how to compete, and he’s got great stuff. I hate that we’re not going to get him in the last couple of outings but he’s an incredible talent and has been a pleasure to coach this summer.”
Behnke came in for the Stanford pitcher and struggled on the hill after retiring two of his first three batters. The Volunteer was taken deep in the sixth, driving in two runs and putting Bourne up 4-1.
In the seventh, Holcomb would add to the Bourne lead with an RBI single to plate two and put the game nearly out of reach at 6-1. He would then deliver the knockout punch just two innings later, on a monster two-run home run in the ninth to end what hope the Kettleers had.
The Cotuit bats went down 1-2-3 in the ninth to cap off a rough loss at home to the Bourne Braves, 8-1.
Notes
Volchko threw a gem in his final game of the summer, going five innings with eight strikeouts. That punchout mark is the most of a Cotuit pitcher in a single outing this summer.
Thach recorded another hit and RBI on Friday, bringing him to a .342 batting average and eight RBI in the last nine games.
Max Belyeu recorded two hits Friday, just his second multi-hit ballgame of the summer.
Looking ahead
Most of the Kettleers will have Saturday off due to the CCBL All-Star Game, but after that they will finish the regular season with eight games in eight days. Including a doubleheader against Falmouth on Aug. 3.
