story by Steve McCarthy
June 23, 2010
BREWSTER – Austin Lubinsky (Minnesota) had a no-hitter broken up with just seven outs remaining Wednesday, but the first place Brewster Whitecaps improved with a 7-2 win over the Cotuit Kettleers at Stony Brook Field in Brewster.
Cotuit’s Levi Hyams (Georgia) lined a single up the middle to spoil the no-hit bid. Lubinsky (1-0) allowed a walk in the sixth inning and picked off Hyams to end the seventh, as well as his outing. It was Lubinsky’s second Cape Cod Baseball League start. He has pitched 13 shutout innings.
“This was a huge confidence boost,” Lubinsky said. “I know I can just go out there and do my own thing, and know that the ‘D’ behind me will have my back and we’ll be successful.”
Brewster manager Tom Myers said the seventh inning would have been Lubinsky’s last even if the no-hitter had remained intact.
“I’m not about to risk any injury with any of the guys for the glory of a no-hitter,” Myers said. ‘He did a great job, and then we needed our bullpen to get some work and that’s what they did.”
The Whitecaps are 7-2 on the season while last place Cotuit fell to 2-6-1.
Lubinsky threw 50 of his 75 pitches for strikes, but struck out just one batter. He was backed by an error-free defense and effectively located his three-pitch arsenal to induce nine ground ball outs.
“He was moving pitches in and out. He was throwing his off-speed for strikes,” Brewster catcher Mike Dowd (Franklin Pierce) said. “Probably 99-percent of the batters, he was throwing first-pitch strikes. That was probably his biggest thing today.”
Brewster entered the game with the Cape League’s lowest team earned run average (1.85), but fourth worst batting average (.202). The Whitecaps’ bats cracked in timely fashion Wednesday, as Lubinsky was able to work with a two run cushion after the first inning, followed by a late-inning rally. Brewster pounded out 12 hits in the game.
“The sticks have been coming alive lately,” Dowd said. “Guys are coming up with two-out hits, big RBI’s, just hitting the ball all over the place today.”
Matt Andriese (1-1, UC-Riverside) took the loss for Cotuit despite a seven-inning effort of his own. Andriese allowed four earned runs on seven hits and struck out six. He did not walk a batter.
Cotuit split its scoring between the eighth and ninth innings. The Kettleers tallied just three hits, and the league’s second lowest team batting average (.190) entering the game continues to plummet.
The top five in Brewster’s batting order each recorded multiple hits and accounted for all of the scoring. Andy Burns (Kentucky) went 3-for-4 with two RBI’s, while Drew Martinez (Memphis) and Danny Oh (Cal-Berkeley) each went 2-for-4 and scored twice.
Burns drove in Brewster’s first two runs with a chopper up the middle that escaped the infield. Leadoff man Martinez came in from third and Oh scored from second.
Jordan Etier (Texas) plated two with a double in the seventh inning to chase Andriese from the game.
After Cotuit’s Curt Casali (Vanderbilt) drew a leadoff walk in the eighth inning from Brewster reliever Jake Floethe (Cal State Fullerton), pinch runner J.T. Taylor (Georgia) stole second and advanced on a low throw down that skipped into center field. Taylor scored on C.J. Cron’s (Utah) groundout.
Cotuit submariner Michael Frongello (Davidson) was tagged for three runs in the eighth inning, of which two were earned, on five hits. Burns and Derek Jones (Washington St.) hit RBI-singles before Taylor Ard (Mt. Hood CC) drove Jones in with a double.
Thomas Kahnle (Lynn) allowed Cotuit’s second run in the ninth inning by way of a hit batsman, a balk, a sac-fly, and an RBI-single into right field by Zach Cone (Georgia).
Cotuit will play its second of three straight road games on Thursday when they travel to Bourne for a 6 p.m. first pitch.