Bourne, Mass. – Cotuit has been dysfunctional at the plate to begin the 2025 season. The bats were more consistent on Sunday night as the Kettleers strung together eight hits and a season-high four runs. However, it left 16 runners on base, batted just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position, and made two costly errors, burying the chance to break the losing skid against the Bourne Braves.
While the team was competitive all nine innings, Bourne came out on top via a walk-off hit to down the Ketts 5-4, moving them to 1-7 on the season.
"We were better offensively tonight, maybe the best game we've had offensively, so that was a positive. We have to catch the ball better all the way around," says Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs. "We're going to keep working and keep making adjustments. There's nowhere else to go, is there? We've got to keep showing up."
Ryker Waite (Vanderbilt) walked to begin the bottom of the first for Bourne before reaching third on a groundout and a stolen base. He scored a batter later after Cotuit pitcher Joey Volchko (Stanford) threw a wild pitch. Two walks and a stolen base later, the Braves had runners on first and second with one out.
A single scored Braden Holcomb (Vanderbilt) from second base to extend Bourne's early lead. Cotuit finally got out of the inning after it turned a 6-4-3 double play to limit the damage. In the next half-inning, the Kettleers got on the board after Camden Johnson (Oklahoma) doubled, stole third base, and scored on a sac fly.
The Ketts loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the third. With the tying run 90 feet away, Easton Winfield (Texas) was called upon to make a play. The Longhorn drew a four-pitch walk to bring in the tying run from third base. Luke Lavin (Stanford) struck out swinging to end the frame, but Cotuit had tied things up.
In the bottom of the fourth, Volchko struck out a Brave on four pitches but then walked three batters to load the bases with two outs. He battled with Bryce Molinaro (Penn State) but came out on top, striking out the Nittany Lion to strand the bases loaded.
That was his last inning of work, and although he started slow, he settled into the game and pitched four solid frames. His final line was four innings tossed, one hit allowed, two earned runs allowed, seven walks (three of which were in the first inning), and seven strikeouts.
Winfield delivered again in the top of the fifth with a one-out triple, the Kettleers' third extra-base hit of the game. Lavin came up to the dish next and flew out to left field, but it was deep enough to score Winfield to give Cotuit its first lead since June 19th.
That lead was short-lived as the Kettleers' reliever Chase Swift (Virginia Tech) gave up a pair of hits, one being an RBI single, to tie things at three apiece.
Swift was pulled after facing two batters in the sixth for Zane Coppersmith (Stetson). While it should have been another shutout inning, a groundball rolled through Rintaro Sasaki's (Stanford) legs, which allowed a run to score.
However, Sasaki made up for his error in the next inning with a runner standing on first base and a 1-1 count. The Japanese slugger mashed a ball into the right-center field gap for his first hit and RBI as a Kettleer.
Cotuit collected four extra-base hits, including this one, on Sunday night, quadrupling its season total (1).
“It’s a matter of being on time and getting a good pitch to hit, that’s just trying to simplify stuff. There are all kinds of data and information, and all those things are great. But at the end of the day, you have to get a good pitch to hit,” said Hibbs. “We did some things at early work today to help with that. I think it worked and we’re going to keep doing it.”
After a scoreless top of the ninth, Wyatt Halvorson (Arizona State) went out to the bump for Cotuit to try and force extra innings.
He quickly retired the first two batters, then walked Jon LeGrande (St. John’s) with Holcomb coming to the dish. Before the 6’5, 240lb slugger took the first pitch, Halvorson tried a pickoff move at first base that sailed through Sasaki’s glove, allowing LeGrande to advance to second base.
The ASU pitcher took a 0-2 lead on Holcomb, but the third pitch of the at-bat was mashed into the right-center field gap and scored LeGrande, ending the game in a 5-4 win for Bourne.
Notes
The Kettleers’ bullpen was good again tonight, compiling eight strikeouts and surrendering just one earned run in 4 2/3 innings. Cotuit’s pen holds a 2.42 ERA, which ranks No. 2 in the CCBL.
Joey Volchko struck out seven batters in four innings, setting a new CCBL career-best for the Stanford hurler.
Looking Ahead
Cotuit will have Monday off before returning to the diamond on Tuesday to play the Brewster Whitecaps on the road. First pitch from Stony Brook Park is at 5:00 p.m.
