The Harwich Mariners traveled to face the Cotuit Kettleers Sunday afternoon. Mariners were coming off of a win against the Bourne Braves at Whitehouse Field Saturday night. The Kettleers entered the game with a 4-6-2 record, to the Mariners 8-4 record.
Ty Smolinski got the Mariners on the board in the top of the first after drawing a walk on an eight-pitch-at-bat. Smolinski was able to score completely unassisted after stealing second, third, and home. Cotuit's Jake Hanley laced a double to even the score at 1-1.
Andrew Basel got the start for the Mariners Sunday. Basel appeared earlier in the season as a bullpen arm but Sunday was his first start. The Kettleers got to Basel in the bottom of the second inning. Cotuit was able to score twice to extend their lead to 3-1
Cotuit’s starting pitcher Alex Sotiropoulos left the game in the top of the second inning after sustaining an injury to his upper arm. Tyler Brashear came into the game to replace him. Brashear pitched well in the second inning, not allowing the Mariners to score. The top of the third inning was a different story. Harwich's Jackson Hotchkiss came to the plate with the bases loaded. After ripping a line drive down the right field line two Mariners scored to tie the game at 3-3.
Cotuit’s Brady Christman came to the plate in the bottom of the third inning with the bases loaded. The Georgia Southern product crushed a ball to left field and cleared the bases to catapult Cotuit into a 7-3 lead.
Innings four through seven were a stalemate between the two teams. New Mariner Jason Flores made his first appearance today pitching 1 2/3 innings. Flores pitched well, striking out two Kettleers without allowing a hit.
"It was great. Just getting my feet wet. I'm excited to be down here for the summer. At the end of the day, it's just a kid's game. I'm excited to be here," said Flores.
The Kettleers would add to their lead in the bottom of the eighth to grow their lead 11-4. Despite the unfortunate outcome Sunday Coach Steve Englert is proud of the heart his team showed.
"It's just a baseball game. When you play a string of seven or eight games in a row, you're going to run into games like this. I thought we competed the whole entire game. We put some balls on the barrel, and we had a lot of quality at-bats while we were trying to come back from four or five runs down. That's a sign of character. The morale is there. These kids compete every night. We lost the baseball game tonight, but we'll just keep moving forward,” said Englert.
What's Next?
The Mariners host the Wareham Gatemen Monday at Whitehouse Field.
First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
