BREWSTER, Mass. — In the last seven days, the Cotuit Kettleers' bats have been heating up. They have recorded 45 hits, which is the second most in the league.
And despite an 11-hit performance against the Brewster Whitecaps, the Kettleers just didn’t have enough in the tank and dropped Game 13 of the season, 3-2, on Sunday.
“I don’t have any complaints about the way we played today,” head coach Loren Hibbs said. “Sometimes in this game, the ball just doesn’t bounce the right way.”
Things were going the right way for Cotuit early. After a single off the bat of Ryne Farber (Auburn) in the first, Jack Natili (Cincinnati) smashed a double to left-center to plate the first run of the game.
That first-inning lead was the only time the Kettleers were ahead the rest of the night.
The Whitecaps answered back quickly in the bottom half of the first. With second-year Kettleer Ian May (UCLA) making his summer debut, Brewster notched three consecutive singles, with the third plating its first run to tie the game at one.
After a smooth, three-strikeout second inning from May, the Whitecaps knocked in another run, also on a single to the outfield.
With runners on the corners and one out, recent Miami commit Alex Sosa hit a sacrifice fly to Andrew Wiggins (transfer portal) to score Brewster’s third run of the game, and second of the frame.
The Kettleers' bullpen stood strong after May’s 2 2/3 innings. Wyatt Halvorson (Arizona State), Charlie Walker (Northeastern) and Zane Coppersmith (Stetson) held the Whitecaps to just three hits and no runs the rest of the game.
The biggest threat from the Kettleers' offense came in the sixth inning. Cam Johnson and Nolan Stevens, both portal commits to Oklahoma, had back-to-back singles. Rintaro Sasaki (Stanford) was plunked with a pitch to load the bases.
Case Sanderson (Nebraska) stepped into the batter’s box. The first two pitches he saw were out of the zone. Sanderson stared down Haiden Leffew (Wake Forest). On the third pitch of the at-bat, the Husker sent the ball bouncing into left field. Johnson ran home, making the score 3-2 in favor of Brewster.
Stevens chugged around third. Third base coach Kevin Frady waved the right fielder home. Whitecaps left fielder Blake Cyr launched the ball to his catcher. The throw beat Stevens by five or six steps, and Carson Tinney tagged the former Mississippi State Bulldog out.
Jarren Advincula (Georgia Tech) ended the inning with a strikeout, and the Kettleers’ momentum seemed to end when the sixth inning did. Brewster pitchers retired the last nine batters after Advincula, and the Whitecaps secured the win, evening the season series 1-1.
Notes
The Kettleers left eight runners on base Sunday, totaling 119 LOB on the season.
Johnson has been swinging a hot bat lately. In the last week, the third baseman has batted .389, which is eighth in the league in that period.
Looking ahead
After an off-day Monday, the Kettleers return to Lowell Park on Tuesday afternoon to face the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. The two teams faced off Friday, a game the Ketts dropped, 5-1.
