The Cotuit Kettleers took home a win by a score of 6-2 over the Harbor Hawks at a packed McKeon Park on Tuesday night. This was just Hyannis' (17-13-1) third home loss of the season, but it was the second to rival Cotuit (20-10-1) as the club fell to a record of 13-3 in familiar territory with the loss.

"Yeah, I think we had some good at-bats," head coach Mitch Karraker said. "We left eight or nine guys on base. We had some chances early on, just needed a two-out hit that we didn't get ... also had the bases loaded in the seventh and I thought we could have maybe gotten a little more. Just came up a bit short."

Despite losing by four, the Harbor Hawks scratched across five hits and worked a trio of walks. Cotuit only boasted three more base runners than the home team, yet controlled almost the entirety of the game.

Hyannis' best chance at mounting a comeback didn't arrive until the seventh inning. Eddy Pelc (Grand Canyon) and Mason White (Arizona) worked walks to begin the frame, eventually leading to a bases-loaded, one-out situation. While Josh Tate (Georgia Southern) and Kane Kepley (North Carolina) scraped back-to-back RBI singles, the team missed out on grabbing more runs.

Pelc stood out in the loss, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk in his first game as a Hawk.

"I'm just blessed to be [on the Cape]," Pelc said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Just to be on this field with these guys was pretty special. Everyone has been super warm and welcoming ... obviously, we try to win every day, and we didn't do it [Tuesday]. We just have to show up [Wednesday] and trust ourselves."

While a pair of runs in the seventh seemingly neutralized the Devin Taylor scorching two-run shot back in the third, the Kettleers were already further ahead thanks to another timely home run.

In the top of the fifth, Cotuit's three-hitter, Brandon Compton, stepped up to the dish after Tanner Thach worked a walk and Grant Jay smoked a double. Compton worked a full count on Maison Martinez (VCU) and got the fastball he was hoping for. He easily ripped it over the fence to give Cotuit a 5-0 lead at the time.

One of the bright spots for the Hawks on an unusually chilly summer night was Dominick Carbone (Coastal Carolina).

"Yeah, I mean from where [Carbone] started coming here, to where he's at now — it's pretty incredible," Karraker said. "Just sticking with it, getting better and better each day. Working with [pitching coaches Tanner Cuhna and Ray Korn] and making some tweaks on what's going to make him effective, he's been phenomenal in his last couple of outings."

Carbone relieved both Martinez and Stevens, as the southpaw extended his scoreless innings streak to five-plus. He dazzled and kept the Ketts' bats off-balance with two-plus innings of scoreless baseball while surrendering zero hits and one walk.

"With the support of my coaches and my teammates, they've just really helped me out in finding what's working," Carbone said. "When I got [to the Cape], one of my main goals was to just work on all my pitches and get them to feel right ... I just think as the saying goes, 'iron sharpens iron,' all of us working together, we just need to believe in ourselves. It's helped me."

The Kettleers scored another run in the top of the ninth via a throwing error, extending their lead to four. One thing that hurt Hyannis on Tuesday was how the club left a whopping seven runners on base with two outs. Karraker's club also struck out a troubling 10 times Tuesday night.

Despite the loss, the Harbor Hawks stayed in third place in the West Division. The team will travel to Veterans Field on Wednesday to face a hot Chatham Anglers squad. First pitch is expected at 7 p.m.

"Pretty much all of our transactions are done now," Karraker said. "So what we have is what we've got moving forward. We need to start gelling a little bit better and playing a little bit better from top to bottom offensively. I'd like to see that pitching staff just keep on going with it. Things just need to click all together."

Sam Fosberg can be reached at samfozsports@gmail.com and followed on Twitter/X @discussbaseball