COTUIT, Mass. — The Kettleers came into Saturday sitting at 2-8-1 and desperately needing a win. Cotuit blitzed the Bourne Braves through the first two innings and led 6-0 early, but the Bravos fought back and made it a ballgame. Things were tight in the eighth and final inning with two men on base and two outs, but the Ketts survived with a strikeout to lock up a 6-4 victory at home.
“We pitched it well, played really good defense, and as you can see, it helps to get Dean West (UCLA),” Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs said. “We were able to do some things with him and Jarren (Advincula). We can play more athletically, and the style we’ve wanted to play basically the whole season.”
Advincula (Georgia Tech) and West led off the bottom of the first with singles before the Kettleers walked the bases loaded with no outs. Jack Natili (Cincinnati) mashed a base hit off the Bourne pitcher’s leg that rolled back towards the Cotuit bench, allowing a run to score.
Bourne catcher Weber Neels (Minnesota) was called for catcher’s interference after trying to use his equipment to keep a ball from rolling to the backstop, which plated a run. The Kettleers scored two more in the first inning on a base-loaded walk and a run-scoring double play to extend their lead to 4-0. While the Braves eventually stopped the fire, their starting pitcher, Folger Boaz (North Carolina), didn’t make it out of the first inning and recorded no outs.
Advincula collected a leadoff double in the bottom of the second inning before stealing third base two batters later. He scored the next at-bat on a single to left field.
“It was a great day to play ball. Other guys helped me defensively and to stack up runs; that’s all we did today,” Advincula said.
Later in the frame, Cotuit put runners at the corners with no outs and Camden Johnson (Oklahoma) at the dish. The Kettleers corner infielder plated the sixth run of the game when he laid down a nice bunt single before the Braves recorded the third out of the frame.
Cotuit starter Reed Moring quickly retired the first Brave of the fourth inning but then got into a jam. He surrendered a walk, then consecutive singles to load the bases with one out. He was pulled for Ryan Buckler (Florida Atlantic), who gave up an RBI single on his first pitch to give Bourne its first run of the game.
Jon LeGrande (St. John’s) mashed a fly ball to deep left field that could have cleared the bases. However, West made a nice catch at the wall to rob him of extra bases. A run was scored on the play, but Buckler forced a popup to end the frame with Cotuit leading 6-2.
“The ball went up with the bases loaded and one out, and I knew the ball was beating me. I tried to get underneath it, put my glove on the ball and caught it,” West said.
In the top of the fifth, Buckler retired the first two Braves on seven pitches, then surrendered back-to-back singles, the second being an RBI base knock to score another run. The Cotuit reliever bounced back by forcing a flyout to end the frame.
Tyler Albanese (San Jose State) relieved Buckler heading into the seventh inning. He started his appearance by surrendering a leadoff triple to Ryker Waite (Vanderbilt), who scored a batter later on a Kade Lewis (Wake Forest) sacrifice fly. After giving up another hit, Albanese settled in and retired the next two Braves to end the frame.
Albanese returned to the mound for the eighth inning, which would be deemed the final one due to darkness. He retired the first batter, but consecutive base hits filled the Cotuit side with anxiousness. Waite stepped up to the plate with two outs, representing the go-ahead run. After five pitches, the count was at 3-2 with a pair of Braves on base and two outs.
Albanese gets set, goes through his windup, fires the pitch, and it’s a strike on the outside corner. Waite disagreed with the call, but it didn’t matter. The Cotuit Kettleers survived against the Braves with a 6-4 win after eight innings.
“Our team has bought in, 100%. I’ve got to give credit to the players because you can put together the best plan, but when they adhere to it, welcome it and accept it, they’re allowing us to coach them, and that’s a good thing,” Hibbs said.
Notes
The Kettleers offense had a patient approach at the plate Saturday. They drew a season-high 10 walks against Bourne.
While the Ketts scored six runs and collected eight hits, they left 10 men on base. On the season, Cotuit has left 111 runners on base.
West made his Kettleers debut Saturday and went 1-for-4, scored a run and made several good defensive plays.
Looking ahead
The Kettleers will aim to extend their winning streak to two games Sunday when they face Brewster on the road for the second time this week. First pitch from Stony Brook Field is at 5 p.m.
