by Andrew Brooks (Living the Dream Blog)
Interviews by Andrew Brooks and Evan Barber : Alex Yarbrough, RJ Fondon, Coach Gassman, Coach Roberts
June 27, 2011
HYANNIS – And just like that, the skid is over.
Cotuit fans can enjoy a nice long sigh of relief as an outstanding night at the plate by Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) and a stellar start from RJ Fondon (FIU) propelled Cotuit to a 3-1 victory over the Hyannis Harbor Hawks.Jordan Leyland (UC Irvine) hit Hyannis starter Jon Moscot’s (Pepperdine) first pitch of the game into the right field gap for a double. Yarbrough followed Leyland with an RBI double of his own to about the exact same spot in right. After a Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) strike out, Logan Vick again kept the trend going by doubling to the right field gap giving Cotuit the early 2-0 lead. The three hits were virtually identical.
In the third inning, Yarbrough smashed a triple to deep center field. The ball couldn’t have been more than three inches away from clearing the outfield fence. Victor Roache hit a fly ball to right, allowing Yarbrough to tag up and score from third.
Yarbrough finished the day going 3-4 with 2 runs and the RBI. He was a homerun short of the cycle.
“It was a good day. The pitcher was throwing a fastball, a curveball, and a change up and I was seeing every pitch that came out of his hand. I got lucky and ran into a few.”
Yarbrough was also joyful to be the catalyst that snapped the Kettleer’s six game losing streak.
“[It feels] really good. It definitely lifts moral to get a win. And we played pretty well as a whole. RJ did a great job on the mound, we swung it pretty well, and then played pretty well in the field.”
Yarbrough was right. It was a ‘great job’ indeed for Cotuit starter RJ Fondon. RJ pounded the strike zone, pitched at a sound pace, and threw effectively with runners on. He went six strong giving up 7 hits, 6 walks, and the 1 run while striking out 6 Harbor Hawks.
RJ credits his success to his off speed pitches. “I had success with my change up. I would go in and out with my fastball, changed speeds. I thought I had them off balance pretty well.”
Manager Mike Roberts agreed.
“He changed speeds really well. He’s done that the last couple of starts.”
The one Hyannis run game in the 4th inning on a Cal Towey bases loaded infield single. A slow roller was hit to Kevin Mager (Rollins) and his dart across the infield was just behind the scampering Towey. A Joey Rickard (Arizona) pop up ended the threat.
In the 7th inning, Rickard reached first on a grounder past third. A pickoff attempt from Mason McVay’s (Tennesse Tech) went by first basemen Jordan Leyland. Because of the mass amount of bullpen room at McKeon Field, Rickard had time to round third and try for home. A bullet from Victor Roache coupled with a clean block of the plate by Kevin Roundtree (USC) resulted in Rickard being called out at home.
Harbor Hawk’s manager Chad Gassman did not agree. As soon as the home plate umpire made a fist and swung it, Gassman channeled his inner Road Runner and had a Lou Piniella inspired argument.
“He was safe, that’s what I saw there,” recounted a very cooled down Gassman after the game.
The door what shut by the masterful work of Bobby Wahl (Ole Miss). The Rebel recorded a two inning save by sprinkling in some breaking pitches with his signature fastball. He struck out four of the six batters he faced. The save was Wahl’s third of the season.
Cotuit will square off with Hyannis again tomorrow the 28th at Lowell Park. The game will start at 5:00.