Cotuit, Mass. – In the Cape Cod League, having a pitcher who can go more than five innings is extremely impressive; more times than none, you end up victorious. That was not how it went on Thursday night for the Cotuit Kettleers as Taylor Seay (Texas State) tossed six innings of two-run ball and was handed the loss.
The offensive woes have come out of nowhere as just three days ago, Cotuit won dominantly, scoring 10 runs. But in the last two days, the Kettleers have been shutout in addition to not scoring a run in 20 consecutive innings.
“I feel like we’ve had a lot of good at-bats but also some bad luck,” said Cotuit assistant coach Danny Crossen. “A lot of our good contact is going right to defenders and sometimes that’s just baseball. We’ve got an excellent group of guys, and we know that even though things aren’t going our way, the team will bounce back.”
The Harbor Hawks got the scoring started early in the second inning. Dalton Bargo (Tennessee) came to the plate and launched a home run down the right-field line to give Hyannis a 1-0 lead.
That would be followed by another solo shot by Kane Kepley (North Carolina) in the fifth to double the Harbor Hawk lead.
After five frames and over 80 pitches, it was assumed that Seay’s day would be done, except it wasn’t. The right-handed hurler took the mound in the sixth and delivered another shutout inning. Ending his day with eight strikeouts, three walks and only two runs allowed in six frames on 102 pitches.
“I told Coach Roberts that I wanted the ball in the sixth,” Seay said. "He told me we’d do it batter to batter and I walked the first guy. But I told him that I wasn’t leaving the game because I felt that I owed it to my teammates to get us out of the jam and I did just that.”
In the seventh, newly activated Brock Pare (Central Connecticut) hopped on the bump following the gem from Seay. He had an opportunity to get out of the inning unscathed but an error from Nolan Nawrocki (South Carolina) allowed Hyannis to tack onto the lead, 3-0.
Hyannis took a page out of Roberts' playbook in the eighth inning to plate their fourth run of the ballgame. They had a runner on third with two outs as Kepley laid down a perfect bunt that scored a run and gave him a base hit as the throw was late.
Cotuit started to rally in the ninth when Nathan Hall (South Carolina) and Devin Taylor (Indiana) walked to put two runners on with one out. That sliver of hope was over quickly after a strikeout and pop-out ended the ballgame as the Kettleers were shutout in back-to-back games for the first time since July 2016.
“It’s been a long couple of days with no off time,” says Crossen. “Right now we just want the guys to have fun, be loose and just get back to enjoying baseball.”
Notes
With Taylor Seay’s gem, he set a Kettleer season-high in innings pitched (6) with the most strikeouts (8) for a Kettleer pitcher this season.
Devin Taylor reached base every at-bat with a hit and three walks, the first time since June 16th when he recorded two hits, two walks and a home run.
Cotuit only mustered four hits today which is the lowest total of the 2024 season.
Looking Ahead
We’re down to the final three games of the regular season and just like every year, the race for a division title is tight. Cotuit is down a game to first-place Hyannis and a game above Wareham, which makes tomorrow’s game against the Gatemen so important.
Following that game, the Kettleers will play a doubleheader against Falmouth on Saturday before finishing the regular season at home against Bourne on Sunday.
