COTUIT, Mass. — Hundreds of collegiate baseball players make the trip to Massachusetts in the summer to play in the prestigious Cape Cod League. With new players arriving often, each team sees dozens of new faces as the season goes on.
One has remained a constant in Cotuit: Ryne Farber.
The infielder is the only player in the league to play in all 40 games, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished by a Kettleer since Logan Taylor in 2014.
In the regular season, Farber hit .278 with 17 RBIs and two home runs.
“I didn’t really have a great spring, and I wanted to come here to try and have as many at-bats as possible,” Farber said. “I’m going to a really good conference next year, and I wanted to make sure I had a lot of tough at-bats this summer to help me get better.”
With so many players coming and going, having Farber a part of the entire season hasn’t gone unnoticed by his teammates.
“I think the guys who have been here set the standard,” pitcher Payton Manca said. “(Farber) means a lot. He’s a stud. A brick wall.”
Farber has seen the Kettleers go from 1-7 in June to the No. 3 seed in the West for the playoff race. It’s been a constant uphill battle for the Kettleers, but one Farber doesn’t take for granted.
“I think we learned how to fail early,” he said. “When you learn how to do that, you come back every day, and you’re ready to play every day, good things happen.”
That happened for the Kettleers in the final game of the regular season. The 6-5 win in extras over Falmouth on Sunday clinched a playoff berth for the Kettleers, and Farber’s RBI single in the 10th was ultimately the decider of the game.
In the bottom of the 10th, his defensive prowess prevented a base hit for Falmouth on a lineout, a play that Manca said “saved the game.”
“Luckily, the ball was lined in my direction,” he said. “I was able to get it, and credit to Luke (Deschenes) for making that pitch.”
Farber is heading to Auburn in the fall, where he’ll take his resilience and dedication to the SEC.
“He prepares every day. He goes about his business the right way,” Cotuit manager Loren Hibbs said. “We talked the other day about the fact that he takes a lot of pride in showing up and playing every day.”
Not only did Farber play every day as a Kettleer, he also played in all 58 games as a Bobcat at Texas State.
The man is TIRED, but he's not done yet.
“Hopefully, I can sleep after we get a trophy,” Farber said.
