HARWICH, Mass. — The Cotuit Kettleers and Harwich Mariners were in an old-fashioned pitchers' duel at Whitehouse Field on Friday night. Both teams have two of the best pitching staffs in the CCBL, and are the top two squads for ERA, WHIP and batting average allowed.
Both starting pitchers were standouts in the game as they combined for nine strikeouts, two earned runs allowed and one walk. While offense was hard to come by for them both, Harwich did just a bit more to take home the 2-1 victory over Cotuit.
“They (Harwich) pitched it pretty well and showed different looks. I thought we did some things better today than we have in the last few games, but we didn’t get rewarded,” Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs said. “Sometimes the game is like that. Sometimes you do things the right way and don’t get rewarded. We’ve tried making some lineup changes and mixing things up. We’re going to keep showing up with the kids who want to grind through it.”
Cam Johnson (Oklahoma) put the Kettleers on the board in the first with a one-out single that was botched in right field, allowing him to reach third base. He came into score a batter later on an RBI groundout.
Harwich answered in the bottom of the inning due to Cotuit playing sloppy baseball. A fielding error put runners on second and third with one out, then a wild pitch allowed Dee Kennedy (Kansas State) to stroll home.
The Mariners took the lead in the bottom of the second when Niko Brini (Wofford) led off with a single, then stole second base. Max Haug (George Washington) retired back-to-back batters before surrendering an RBI double that hugged the third-base line, knocking chalk in the air to prove it was fair.
While it was a slow start for Haug, the Kettleer hurler settled in after the second and was borderline unhittable through the next three innings. He retired ten consecutive batters with a pair of strikeouts and no walks.
Haug was only at 56 pitches, but his day was done after five innings pitched, where he gave up one earned run with four punchouts and no walks.
“Today, I got ahead early with the fastball and followed it up late with the breaking pitches,” Haug said. “It was a bigger park, so you try to throw as many fastballs and strikes as possible and hope they don’t hit it out of the ballpark, which they didn’t.”
Tyler Albanese (San Jose State) was the new Kettleer arm and didn’t skip a beat. The tall righty tossed a scoreless sixth inning with a strikeout to bring the Cotuit offense up.
Luke Matthews (Kent State) and Easton Winfield (Transfer Portal) drew walks to begin the seventh, with Zan Von Schlegell (St. Thomas) pinch-hitting. In a 3-1 count with two runners on and no outs, Von Schlegell did the one thing he couldn’t do.
He grounded into a triple play, just the ninth in league history. Cotuit had built some momentum, but that play extinguished all of it.
After a scoreless eighth inning on both sides, the Kettleers were down to their final three outs in the ninth. Jack Natili (Cincinnati) was hit by a pitch to begin the frame and was pulled for a pinch-runner.
With a runner on base and no outs, Cotuit had a chance to tie things. However, it was 1-2-3 after that to seal a 2-1 loss against the Harwich Mariners at Whitehouse Field.
Notes
Max Haug had another quality start. In his last two appearances, the right-handed pitcher has struck out nine batters and surrendered just one earned run in nine innings.
A pitch hit Jack Natili in the ninth inning, and he was pulled for a pinch runner. As of now, his status is unknown. But Hibbs says, “We’re going to see what he can do moving forward; he’s probably not going to be able to play in the All-Star Game.”
The Harwich Mariners have won all three matchups against Cotuit this season, outscoring them 13-1.
Looking ahead
Cotuit has the weekend off for the All-Star break but will return to the field Monday against the Chatham Anglers. First pitch from Lowell Park is at 5 p.m.
