The Hyannis Harbor Hawks continued their July slump with an 8-1 loss to the Cotuit Kettleers at Lowell Park. The Kettleers (10-12-2) held the Harbor Hawks (10-11-3) to one run for the second time this month, the first being an 11-1 win for Cotuit on July 2.
Hyannis’ only run came in the top of the ninth on an RBI groundout by Charlie Bates after a Jeff Lougee triple to center field.
Lougee’s three-bagger came on a line drive to center that missed the glove of a diving Caden Bogenpohl, rolling toward the fence as the Kettleer’s corner outfielders tracked it down to prevent an inside-the-park homerun.
This was the Duke infielder’s second triple of the season, putting him atop the Cape Cod Baseball League leaderboard. Prior to this hit, no Harbor Hawk had made it to third base in the game.
“We’ve got to tighten up our strokes a little bit,” Hyannis manager Mitch Karraker said. “Tip your hat to [Cotuit] a little bit, they pitched really well, but at the same time, I felt like we kind of gave some of those at-bats away.”
Beau Sampson and Tyler Albanese had outstanding performances as a premier pitching tandem for the Kettleers.
Sampson dominated as Cotuit’s starter, going five scoreless innings against the Harbor Hawks. Of the six baserunners the southpaw allowed, only two reached second base. Both instances came with two outs, allowing the Oklahoma hurler to end the inning promptly after putting a runner in scoring position.
In addition to his management of the basepaths, Sampson collected six strikeouts, giving Hyannis hitters trouble with his lively fastball.
Albanese relieved Sampson in the top of the sixth, starting his outing by setting the Harbor Hawks down in order. The righty from San Jose State did so again in the seventh and eighth, collecting ten straight outs before giving up the triple to Lougee.
After four innings of relief, Albanese picked up his third save of the season, tying for the third most in the CCBL with Joe Sabbath and Ryan Speshyock.
Hyannis’ pitching staff didn’t experience the same success, allowing 17 hits and giving up seven runs in two-out situations.
“[The Kettleers] hit the ball like crazy tonight,” Karraker said. “Tip your hat to them, we didn’t make pitches when we needed to.”
Cotuit’s final pair of insurance runs came in the bottom of the eighth. After Jerrod Jenkins got two outs in just seven pitches for the Harbor Hawks, the Kettleers strung together five straight singles, scoring Easton Winfield, Andrew Wiggins and Bogenpohl.
The home squad breached the scoreboard initially in the bottom of the second. Eddie Copper III started his second frame with a strikeout and a groundout before walking Camden Johnson. The Wichita State infielder stole second, putting himself in scoring position for Luke Matthews.
This swung momentum toward Cotuit as Matthews, Case Sanderson and Winfield all had base knocks to put together the early two-out rally.
The Kettleers continued their clutch hitting in the sixth as, after a two-out walk for Matthews, Sanderson drove him in with a double to deep left-center field. Winfield swapped places with the Nebraska infielder, doubling into left for his second RBI of the day.
In the bottom of the fourth, Nolan Stevens led off with a double for Cotuit. Johnson bunted him to third before a Matthews ground out to drive in the Mississippi State utility man.
This was the Kettleers’ only run that scored without two outs in the inning, though it did simultaneously score as the second out was recorded.
Hyannis looks to learn from their shortcomings on both sides of the ball as they face the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox on July 15 at 6 p.m. in McKeon Park.
Tymothy Brown can be reached at tymbrown12@gmail.com or followed on X @tym_brown1
