Falmouth, Mass. – It was another tough outing for the Cotuit Kettleers when they faced off against the Falmouth Commodores on Wednesday night at Guv Fuller Field. The Kettleer bats couldn’t find their groove in another close loss, 6-4.
“I told the guys that we’ve got to be there every pitch, when you do that, you can certainly win a lot of one or two-run games,” Cotuit head coach Mike Roberts said. “Right now, we’re just not doing that. We’re missing out on some pitches and giving up some runs that we shouldn’t be giving up.”
Cotuit started the game exactly as you don’t want to start. Their batters went down in order, and then the Commodores quickly got to James Ellwanger (Dallas Baptist). Ellwanger had been nearly perfect coming into the ballgame, not allowing a single earned run all season. That quickly changed as he walked three batters while giving up two hits and a wild pitch en route to a three-run first for the 'Dores.
Just two innings later, Roberts would turn to Colton Hartman (Louisville), and the southpaw would get things back under control while giving the Ketts a solid outing. Going nearly four innings of work, striking out two and giving up two runs.
Even with that change of pace from the Cotuit bullpen, there was still a glaring issue that carried over from Tuesday, and that would be the bats. The Kettleers saw themselves being no-hit until they finally broke through in the seventh inning.
Brandon Compton (Arizona State) collected a one-out single to give the Ketts their first hit and an opportunity to get back into the ballgame. Two batters later, the window for Cotuit to make a comeback had significantly widened as the bases were loaded with the 9-1-2 batters due up.
Kien Vu (Arizona State) did his part in trying to mount a comeback as he roped a breaking ball into right field, scoring two and putting himself at second. The very next batter, Nolan Nawrocki (South Carolina) singled up the middle, scoring two more as in just an instant the Kettlers saw themselves go from down five to down by a single run.
The rally would soon end with a strikeout and pop-up, but the Ketts had put up a four-spot and put themselves back in the ballgame.
Falmouth would plate a run of their own in the eighth inning, but Cotuit went into the ninth inning down by just two with the heart of the lineup coming up.
Unfortunately, the Kettleers couldn’t get any offense going as Cotuit would drop another close ballgame, this one being 6-4.
Cotuit will be back on the field Thursday evening in the highly anticipated Fourth of July game at Lowell Park, the first in two years.
“We made some mistakes today. But tomorrow is a new and exciting day,” Roberts said. “It’s going to be a wonderful day, and we need to take it in, there’s a parade, events for the fans, and Lowell Park will be packed for our game. I told the guys to enjoy it, and I think we all need to enjoy it because you don’t see this kind of stuff too often anymore.”
