Bottom of the sixth, the score is 2-0. Dawson Park (LSU) is at the plate with runners on second and first. So far with runners in scoring position, the Kettleers have zero hits and 11 runners stranded. On paper, the odds are not looking good. But, things are about to change. Park rips a line drive to left field, scoring a run. The seal was broken.
Next, a Jayce Lee (Notre Dame) sacrifice fly to tie the game. After that, a single from Seojun Oh (Transfer Portal) to take the lead. For five innings, the Cotuit (4-6-1, West) offense were nearlymen. But all it took was one RBI single to break the seal in the sixth inning for the Kettleers to take the 3-2 win over Orleans.
“It felt good to get that hit,” Park said. “Of course you want to get everything going for the team and do what you can, and I’m lucky it worked out for us.”
Taking it back to the beginning, the Cotuit offense came out firing blanks. The first inning saw the Kettleers load the bases following two free passes and a single from Park. However, Jacob Haley (South Alabama) bore down and got consecutive strikeouts and a groundout to nullify the promising inning. The following frame saw Cotuit again put two ducks on the pond via a single from Noah Coy (Notre Dame) and a fielding error that allowed Brady Christman (Mississippi State) to reach. But yet again, with two outs Haley got a strike out to blank the Kettleers.
In the third inning Cotuit got Isaac Sturgess (Wake Forest) into scoring position on a single and a stolen base but again struck out and grounded out to strand him. The fourth inning was no different, with consecutive singles from J.J. Moran (Stanford) and Coy being worth nothing as the next three batters went down in order. If even half of the 11 runners stranded by Cotuit in the first five innings scored, this loss could have become a blowout victory. Instead, the game stayed in favor of Orleans for much longer than it should have.
Keeping Cotuit in the game despite the struggles to break through offensively was Jonathan Adelmann (Bucknell). The right-hander was dominant on the mound, continually forcing weak contact. Adelmann went 4.1 innings, allowing just two hits and one run.
“It’s the pitcher’s job to give your team the best chance to win,” Adelmann said. “I felt like I did that today and I’m really glad we pulled through later in the game.”
However, all of his effort went up in smoke when Chase van Ameyde (Michigan State) gave up a two-run blast to Ryan MacDougall (Dayton) in the fifth inning. While this could have dampened the morale in the Cotuit dugout, the team kept fighting.
After finally taking the lead in the sixth, the Kettleers still had to keep it. Enter Truitt Manuel (NC State). The reliever feared nothing in his two-inning appearance, taking home the save despite facing multiple uncomfortable situations. Specifically, with no outs and runners on the corners in the eighth inning, Manuel struck out Rowan Kelly (UCSB). Looking to end the game on the spot, he then forced a double play, sealing the victory as darkness enveloped Lowell Park.
This win saw plenty of improvement in the stat columns. The Kettleers stole two bases despite only swiping seven bags all year beforehand. Every Cotuit batter reached base at least once, a rarity so far. Pitchers allowed just one run-scoring play, and did an excellent job minimizing damage. This is a new Kettleer team entering the second quarter of the season.
“Today was really a team game, I had a lot of great players supporting me…” Manuel said. “We’re fired up and we’re ready to go win some more games.”
With some newfound momentum, Cotuit hits the road to take on Brewster tomorrow. First pitch is slated for 4:30 p.m. EDT, and Jackson Yarberry (Indiana) is the projected starting pitcher for the Kettleers.
