By Jessica Isner, Staff Writer
July 12, 2007
LOWELL PARK, COTUIT, MA — They can’t complete the comeback every day.
On Thursday night, the Cotuit Kettleers once again got down early and came back to tie the game, but this time around, they couldn’t get the job done and fell to Orleans, 10-6, for the first time this season.
The winning runs came in the eighth inning on a grand slam by Chase D’Arnaud, who came into the game batting .149.
Chris Fetter, entering with a 6.60 ERA, put in a performance suitable enough to keep the Kettleers in the game before giving way to the bullpen, but in the later innings, the game began to get out of hand. He squared off against South Carolina’s Will Atwood, who went a solid five innings and gave up just one run on five hits.
The Kettleers started off decently, striking early in the first inning. Josh Harrison began the inning with an infield single but was erased when Tony Delmonico grounded into a fielder’s choice. Ryne White then worked a walk and Caleb Joseph continued his hot streak with an RBI double to give Cotuit the 1-0 lead, but White was thrown out trying to get to third for the second out. Joseph was stranded when Reese Havens flied out to center to end the inning.
Fetter got out of his share of jams during his outing, most notably in the third. After getting two quick outs, he walked the bases loaded, but was fortunate to get a flyout to right from Chase D’Arnaud to prevent any damage.
However, Fetter wasn’t so lucky in the fifth. He walked leadoff man Jon Gaston, then allowed a one-out RBI double to Jose Jimenez, scoring Gaston and tying the game. That would be it for Fetter, who left after five and a third innings and surrendered two runs on just three hits but walked six.
Lindblum began his afternoon with a strikeout to Nate Freiman, but then allowed a double to Brandon Crawford, which scored Jimenez to give Orleans the 2-1 lead. Lindblum then walked D’Arnaud before giving up a base hit to Hampton Tignor, allowing another run to make it 3-1 in the Cardinals’ favor.
The walks continued to be a problem for the Cotuit pitching staff. Ollie Linton led off the sixth inning with a single, then Gaston walked. Dennis Raben flied out, and with Jose Jimenez up at bat, Linton was picked off of second base. Jimenez worked a walk and then both he and Gaston came home on a homer by Nate Freiman to open the game up. Lindblum allowed another base hit to Crawford before he was lifted for Matt Wright, who notched a strikeout to end the inning.
The Kettleers made up the difference in the top of the seventh against Orleans pitchers Jason Novak and Nick Christiani. Aaron Baker led off the inning with a single and Harrison got his second base hit of the night, which set Delmonico up for a three-run home run to make it 6-4 with no outs. Novak then administered two straight walks to White and Joseph before giving way to Christiani. He retired Havens on a fielder’s choice, then Jonathan Pigott bunted and the flip home was mishandled by the pitcher, allowing another run to score. Stock tied the game when he grounded out to first, allowing Havens to score from third.
In the top of the eighth, though, the Cardinals were unfazed and added four more runs to their total on a grand slam by D’Arnaud against Garrett Richards.