story by Steve McCarthy
August 11, 2010
YARMOUTH – Matt Andriese got the redemption he was in search of.
The right-handed starting pitcher from Cal-Riverside had been with the Cotuit Kettleers since Day 1, but was pushed into a relief role as late arrivals joined the team. He made just six starts after logging a team-high 103 innings at school this spring in 14 starts with four complete games.
The Kettleers were depleted of fresh arms and without a closer as they began the best-of-three Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series against a Yarmouth-Dennis club which had scored 36 runs over the previous two days. Though having appeared for an inning in relief two days prior, Andriese wanted the ball.
The texting between him and field manager Mike Roberts went back and forth Tuesday night and when the team arrived at Red Wilson Field Wednesday for the 3 p.m. game, the decision to start Andriese was confirmed.
The Red Sox team which had pounded out 62 hits in four playoff games managed just three off Andriese, and the RBI machine was “Out of Order”. Andriese’s complete game shutout set the stage for Cotuit’s 3-0 win in taking the series advantage back home to Lowell Park, where they will have a chance to hoist the Arnold Mycock trophy following a pair of runner-up finishes.
Andriese had a no-hitter going until Ben McMahan (Florida) lined a single into right-center field with two outs in the fifth inning. Andriese allowed one baserunner past first, when in the eighth inning he hit Caleb Ramsey (Houston) and issued his only walk of the afternoon. He had the option of calling it a day at that point.
“I wanted to finish it,” Andriese said.
Out of the dugout he strode for the ninth inning and didn’t allow for much drama. After a leadoff single, two more of his 12 total ground balls came, one good for a double play and the other for the final out.
“It just kind of proved to the coaching staff that I earned the start today,” Andriese said.
Andriese threw 120 pitches, 85 for strikes, and Y-D shortstop Joe Panik (St. Johns) was the only other batter with an answer for his ground ball inducing repertoire.
“I just stayed in rhythm, threw a lot of strikes,” Andriese said. “It’s exciting to beat a good team like that.”
The Kettleers gave Andriese a two run cushion before he climbed the mound for the first time. Jordan Leyland (UC-Irvine) and Chad Wright (Kentucky) opened the game with back-to-back singles and were rewarded on a bunt by Deven Marrero (Arizona St.) and a two-out fielder’s choice by Brooks Pinckard (Baylor).
Marrero singled down the left field line in the third inning to drive in Wright again.
“You’ve got to get runs whenever you can,” Marrero said. “A lot of playoff games are very low scoring.”
Kettleers batters got eight hits off Y-D starter Randy Fontanez (South Florida), with two each from Marrero, Leyland, and Michael Yastrzemski (Vanderbilt). Fontanez went eight innings and was responsible for two of the runs.
Game 2 is scheduled for Thursday at 3 p.m., when the supposed underdogs will attempt to close out the summer in an even 50 games.
“It’s fun being the underdog because no one expects it,” Marrero said. “We’ve just been playing really hard lately and hopefully it pays out at our home field.”