A grand slam by Jack Natili (Cincinnati) for Cotuit flipped the game on its head in the fifth inning on Wednesday, as Y-D was taken down by the Kettleers 8-2 at Red Wilson Field.
Michael Catalano (Oklahoma) made the first start of his collegiate career for Y-D on Wednesday after putting up an eye-popping 16.03 K/9 in four appearances out of the bullpen this summer. After running into some immediate trouble, Catalano helped himself out by starting a 1-6-3 double play to get the first two outs of the frame. Nolan Stevens (Mississippi State) proceeded to hit another ground ball back to Catalano, allowing him to work out of the first inning unscathed.
Cody Miller (East Tennessee State) got things started for Y-D in the bottom half of the first by beating out an infield single to the shortstop. Miller continued to cause chaos on the basepaths following the infield hit by stealing second and third base on back-to-back pitches to reach a team-leading eight stolen bases on the season. Miller made an instant impact in his final game with Y-D, as he's eligible for the upcoming MLB Draft on Sunday and Monday.
Chris Hacopian (Texas A&M) drove Miller in by grounding a fastball from Ryan Buckler (Florida Atlantic) to the shortstop to give Y-D an early 1-0 lead.
Cotuit put pressure on Catalano once again in the second inning with a couple of hits and a walk to load the bases with one out. Catalano continued to be an escape artist when Miller fielded a ground ball up the middle from Case Sanderson (Nebraska), took it to second base himself and fired onto first for an inning-ending double play.
“The guys behind me played really great defense tonight,” Catalano said. “Those guys are heading off and getting ready for the draft. I’m really thankful for what they’ve done for this team; I had fun meeting them and playing with them, and they’re really great players.”
After the Kettleers put multiple runners on base for the third straight inning, Catalano fought back to strike out Natili swinging and preserve the 1-0 lead. Catalano continued to bear down when he needed to, holding Cotuit to 1-6 with runners in scoring position in the first three innings.
“I was just taking it one pitch at a time and executing to my best ability,” Catalano said. “I’m always at my best when I go out and try to attack hitters, hit my spot and have fun doing it.”
On the other side, Buckler started to cruise after allowing a first-inning run. He retired nine consecutive hitters following the leadoff single from Miller and needed just 14 pitches during the second and third innings.
Catalano capped off his gutsy start by escaping another jam with a runner in scoring position in the fourth inning. The four scoreless innings marked the longest outing of Catalano’s collegiate career and lowered his ERA this summer to 2.45.
“That’s what you play for, to come out and be a starter,” Catalano said. “Obviously I didn't put guys away like I usually do tonight, but I competed well, limited damage and had a lot of fun.”
The fifth inning is when Cotuit finally struck and took advantage of all the traffic on the basepaths. Jack Nobe (Xavier) came out of the Y-D bullpen and loaded the bases with two hit-by-pitches and a walk for Natili, who entered as the hottest hitter on the Cape with four home runs in his previous three games. Natili remained scorching hot by launching a 93 MPH fastball over the wall in right-center field for a grand slam to put Cotuit ahead 4-1.
Buckler continued to hold things in check on the mound for the Kettleers, tossing five innings with only three baserunners and one run allowed. Prior to Wednesday, Buckler had never pitched for more than 2.2 innings in either his collegiate or summer season.
Y-D strung together a rally in the sixth inning against Ian May (UCLA) out of the Cotuit bullpen when Miller walked and Nolan Traeger (TCU) singled to put runners at the corners with no outs. Hacopian collected his second RBI of the day by chopping one over the head of May for an infield single to cut Y-D’s deficit to 4-2. Y-D was unable to tack on any more runs in the inning after three consecutive strikeouts, leaving Traeger and Hacopian stranded.
Cotuit pulled away with four runs in the seventh inning thanks to some clutch two-out hitting. Both Luke Matthews (Kent State) and Dean West (UCLA) hit line drives for two-run singles with two outs in the inning to extend the Kettleers’ lead to 8-2.
Kyle Remington (Minnesota) slammed the door out of the Cotuit bullpen with four strikeouts in 2.1 hitless innings. The game was called after eight innings due to darkness, resulting in Y-D’s second straight home loss after starting the season 7-0-2 at Red Wilson Field.
With the defeat, Y-D drops to 12-7-2 on the season and now holds just a one-point lead over Brewster for first place in the East Division. Following an off day on Thursday, Y-D will look to respond in a crucial matchup against Brewster at 5 p.m. on Friday.
