HARWICH, Mass. – Coming into the Friday night showdown between the Kettleers and Mariners, Max Belyeu (Texas) struggled significantly at the plate. The Lone Star State native was barely batting over .200 with no home runs and just five RBI in 11 games and was extremely frustrated with himself. However, Belyeu would break out of that dry spell in a big way, clubbing two home runs and driving in four, helping Cotuit rout Harwich on the road, 16-8.
“Something was wrong with my mechanics, so I had to clean some stuff up and get back to competing,” Belyeu said. "I was pulling off the ball badly and hitting it horizontally. I fixed that with coach [Mike] Roberts, and I’ve really seen a change in my game.”
The Cotuit offense was locked in from the start as on the very first pitch, Devin Taylor (Indiana) took the Mariner pitcher deep, just over the wall in left-center field. That would be followed by a Nathan Hall (South Carolina) single that would turn into another run via a stolen base, error and wild pitch.
Cotuit would add to its lead in the third when Luke Hanson (Virginia) came in to score on a balk to put the Ketts up by three. Harwich would get a run back in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run, but the Kettleers would counter it quickly.
Belyeu came up to the plate in the fourth with a runner at third and two outs. The Longhorn would mash a 1-1 count fastball, sending it way over the right field wall before flipping his bat in excitement and trotting around the bases.
Harwich would strike back, plating three runs throughout the fourth and fifth innings, partially due to some big-time Kettleer errors.
Going into the seventh, Cotuit held a slim 5-4 lead but had a chance to add to it with the top of the lineup coming up. The Ketts capitalized on two Harwich errors which were able to score Belyeu and Brandon Compton (Arizona State) and widen the Kettleer lead to four runs.
The Mariners scored a run of their own in the seventh, but it would be quickly forgotten as Belyeu crushed his second long ball of the game just an inning later. He would finish his day going 2-for-4 with two home runs, four RBI and scoring four runs.
“It feels good after a really rough start out here,” Belyeu said of his 2-for-4 game. “Definitely challenging to transition from Texas to the Cape League; there’s always rough patches when you start here. It’s part of the game but also frustrating, so it feels really good to have a game like today.”
The fireworks wouldn’t be over for Cotuit as it put up a five-spot in the ninth, highlighted by a 422-foot home run off the bat of Grant Jay (Dallas Baptist) to give the Ketts 16 runs on the day. Harwich would score three garbage time runs in the bottom of the ninth to cut the Cotuit lead to eight. But that’s all it could get, as the Ketts walked into Whitehouse Field and dominated, winning 16-8.
“We did a really nice job of bouncing back from last night because it was a really tough loss,” Roberts said. “It was a wild Cape League game; I’d like to see us in some closer ballgames, but we played well tonight and we’re thankful and happy that the guys came out with the victory.”
Looking ahead
Saturday, the Kettleers will be back at Lowell Park for the highly anticipated celebration of the 1995 CCBL championship team. Players and coaches will be coming in to spend the weekend in the village for different events such as golf, a dinner and the reunion at the Kettleers game against Chatham on Saturday night. First pitch is at 5 p.m.
Notes
Cotuit’s offense was phenomenal on Friday night, crushing four home runs, which is the most this season for the Kettleers.
With the impressive 16-8 victory, Cotuit has now outscored the Mariners 32-12 at Whitehouse Field this season.
With the 16-run, four-homer performance Friday, the Kettleers now jump up to second in the CCBL in both home runs (25) and runs scored (134).
