Kettleers Fall to 1-3-1 with Home Loss to Cardinals

By Megan Kerr, Asst. Web Editor
June 20, 2005

LOWELL PARK, COTUIT, MA – A rough start for Drew Johnson (Navarro, 3 ER, 1BB) in which he lasted two plus innings made it very tough on the Kettleers and though they fought hard, they ended up losing to Orleans by a score of 8-5 lasts night at home.

After an early, 3-0 deficit, the Kettleers were able to pull ahead of Orleans at one point due to the strong relief pitching of Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech, 2 Ks , 1 BB), but were unable to hold onto the lead for very long because of a leaky defense and Cardinals team that refused to go down easily. The Kettleers just weren’t able to come up with a come-from-behind victory and ended up losing their second game in a row.

The Cardinals jumped on Johnson from the very beginning, scoring four runs in the first three innings of the game. Ladd then came into the game and the Kettleers instantly settled down, not allowing a single run in the five innings that he pitched. The Kettleers began to make their move in the bottom of the third inning when they had runners on first and third with no outs against the Cardinals starter, Brad Meyers (Loyola Marymount, 5 Ks, 5 BBs). Shane Jordan (Stetson, 1 RBI, 2 for 5 batting), who had five RBI coming into the game, singled in thre first run with no outs to get the attack going for the Kettleers.

Todd Davison (Delaware, 1 RBI, 1 for 5 batting), who lead the team with 6 RBI coming into the game, added to his RBI total by getting the second run of the inning home, but in the process, he hit into a double play, which left Cotuit with no runners and two outs. The inning then ended when Bryan Harris (LSU, 1 for 4 batting) struck out swining with a runner on second base, but Cotuit wasn’t done scoring.

In the sixth, the game seemed to turn when the coach of the Kettleers Mike Roberts was ejected from the game for arguing with the umpires. This seemed to spark the Kettleers, for quickly afterwards they scored three runs to go ahead of the Cardinals five to four. Lino Mariot (Bloomfield, 1 RBI, 1 for 3 batting) and Emeel Salem (Alabama, 2 RBI, 1 for 4 batting) did the damage this inning, and due to their clutch hitting, it seemed as if the Kettleers were going to pull off this victory. Unfortunately, in the eighth inning when Daniel Moskos (Clemson, 1 ER, 2 BBs), the losing pitcher, replaced Ladd, the Cardinals were able to jump on the errors made by the Kettleers defense and pull back ahead for good.

An error by the shortstop Davison got Matt Camp (NC State, 1RBI, 2 for 5 hitting) on base, and then the following batter was hit by a pitch, which jump-started what would turn out to be a big inning for the Cardinals. Another error on the part of the second basemen Michael Hollander (LSU) on what should have been a doubleplay ball allowed Camp to score, tying the game. The winning run was scored on a sacrifice bunt by Steve Singleton (San Diego, 1 RBI) and the Kettleers weren’t ever able to reclaim the lead as they never really posed a serious threat to the Cardinals after this point.

In the top of the ninth, the Cardinals added two more runs for insurance, and the lead was then to big for the Kettleers to overcome. They went down in order to Steven Wright (Hawaii, 1 K), who picked up his second save of the season. Hopefully, the rest of this homestand for the Kettleers will prove to be more friendly for the Kettleers, starting with their next opponent Harwich. Though the Kettleers battled, it wasn’t enough to contain a gritty Orleans team.