FROM CCBL RELEASE
S. YARMOUTH, Mass—For the second year in a row, the Cotuit Kettleers are going to the championship series. They beat the Y-D Red Sox18-4 to earn a spot against the Bourne Braves. By the end of the matchup, all but one of the Kettleers in the starting lineup crossed the plate.
Chris Bisson (Kentucky) started it off on the first pitch of the game with a single and a stolen base, setting up Kevin Patterson (Auburn) to bring him home on a single. Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington) beat the throw to first base on an infield single before Cameron Rupp (Texas) walked, and with the bases loaded, Y-D’s Greg Peavey (Oregon St.) walked Kevin Keyes (Texas) to score Patterson. Zach Maggard (Florida Southern) then struck out on a wild pitch, but another run came into score on the play.
Y-D made it a 3-1 game in the third when Caleb Ramsey (Houston) hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Ben McMahan (Florida), but the Red Sox wouldn’t get another hit until the seventh, and their pitchers couldn’t stop the Cotuit bats. Jeff Walters (Georgia), Craig Fritsch(Baylor), and Ben Rowen (Virginia Tech) all had strong outings on the mound for Cotuit.
The Kettleers scored six runs in the fourth, starting with Tony Plagman’s (Georgia Tech) solo home run. Patterson got another RBI on a double that plated Rico Noel (Coastal Carolina). Stanley scored Patterson on an infield single when a bad throw to third went into the stands and both Patterson and Stanley were awarded an extra base. Stanley came home on a wild pitch, and Maggard hit a single for two RBIs, bringing a walked Rupp and doubled Keyes home. Peavey finally got out of the inning on a fly out to left field.
The Cotuit bats kept pounding hits in the fifth. They started the inning when Bisson, on another swinging strikeout, when a wild throw to first allowed him to reach third and the speedy Noel was able to score. Patterson had his third RBI of the night when he hit a single to bring Bisson home, and Stanley hit a two RBI double to bring home Zach Cone (Georgia) and Patterson. Rupp completed the scoring for the inning with a two run home run that had Y-D field manager Scott Pickler looking to his bullpen to relieve Peavey.
In the seventh, Cotuit’s Keyes hit a two run home run after Rupp was hit by a pitch by Y-D’s Chase Dempsay (Houston). YD-’s Brian Hernandez (UC Irvine) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to put the score at 16-2.
Though he was walked three times and hit by a pitch, Rupp continued his hitting streak in the eighth to bring home Cone and Patterson before the inning was out and the score sat 18-2. Y-D’s Tyler Hanover (LSU) plated Ramsey in the bottom of the 8th, and Austin Wates (Virginia Tech) plated Hanover to bring the score to its 18-4 final.
“I’m just appreciative to our players, I told them before the game they can decide how bad they want to play,” said Cotuit’s field manager Mike Roberts. “I just want to congratulate Y-D because they dominated the league all year and we all know anybody can win one game, so we were just fortunate to win that game today.”
Cotuit, who only has 9 position players available and no starting pitchers left, has shown sincere resiliency in their playoff chase, illustrated by pitcher Matt Grace’s (UCLA) appearance in right field today. They will face the Bourne Braves tomorrow at Doran Park at 7pm for the first of a best-of-three series.
