COTUIT, Mass. – In a clash of two teams that dig the long ball, the Brewster Whitecaps cooled off the red-hot Cotuit Kettleers at Lowell Park on Thursday.
The visitors clobbered four homers, with two coming from Andrew Fischer (Ole Miss) as part of a five-hit night en route to a 10-7 victory.
“We just gave up as a unit today,” Kettleers manager Mike Roberts said. “Obviously when you give up that many home runs you're not gonna win very often.”
Cotuit trotted out southpaw Cam Hill (Georgia Tech) for his third start of the summer and had all of his pitches working through the first three frames as he struck out five batters.
However, Hill left some mistake pitches that a powerful Whitecaps order took advantage of. Entering the night with eight bombs on the season, No. 9 came when Nick Dumesnil deposited a fastball in the lower half of the strike zone over the wall in center field to give Brewster a 1-0 advantage.
The Whitecaps added another in the top of the third, this time on Fischer’s first dinger of the game that left to the deepest part of the yard to make it a 3-0 game.
“It’s just an ode to really how competitive the league is. Just can't take a pitch off,” Hill said. “You make a mistake, they’ll take advantage of us like they did tonight with the two homers, and it's just part of the game.”
Hill ran into trouble in the fourth as the first two hitters reached base on a Dumesnil leadoff single and Cooper Vest (Brigham Young). A successful sacrifice bunt from Jayden Hylton (Stetson) moved both runners into scoring position and forced Roberts to move the infield in not even halfway through the game.
The move benefitted Brewster as the following batter, Tyler Pettorini (Ohio State), smacked a slider past a diving Tanner Thach (UNC Wilmington) for the fourth run of the game and chased Hill from the game. The Whitecaps kept up successful small ball against fresh reliever Harrison Bodendorf (Oklahoma St.) as a fifth run crossed after DeAmez Ross (Florida St.) pushed a perfect bunt for a hit to the right side of the infield.
Brewster took its largest lead of the game in the top of the fifth inning as the offensive focus returned to the power swing. Following a Fischer double, Brody Donay (Florida) got just enough of one out to left field as defensive replacement Reece Holbrook (North Carolina) could not secure the potential home run robbery in his glove and the ball landed over the fence.
Down 7-0 and with Brewster starter Seth Tomczak (Cal St. Fullerton) out of the game, the Kettleers showed life in the bottom of the fifth as the first five batters reached base and moved station-to-station to plate two runs. The Whitecaps bullpen later hit Thach with a pitch and tossed a ball to the backstop to let two more runs pass, making it a game at 7-4.
Ryan Ure (Oklahoma State) worked Brewster out of the inning with two quick outs, and Cotuit never made the game closer.
Fischer maintained Brewster’s distance with his second four-bagger of the night, a no-doubt solo shot to right field to welcome Isaac Lyon (Grand Canyon) to the Cape League in the top of the seventh inning. The Whitecaps added what wound up as much-needed insurance with two runs off Thach in the ninth, who took the mound down four.
The Kettleers slugger more than made up for it with a three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth to make it a three-run game once again. Thach’s second homer in as many games could not spark a rally as Grant Cunningham (Washington) settled in for the needed two outs to secure Brewster’s fifth win on the year.
Cotuit’s record dropped to 7-4 in 2024 and held steady at second place in the West Division. The Kettleers travel to Doran Park to take on the defending CCBL champion Bourne Braves on Friday for the first time this season with a scheduled start of 6 p.m.
