by Andrew Brooks (Living the Dream Blog)
Interview by Andrew Brooks: Coach Roberts, Kyle Zimmer
July 30, 2011
FALMOUTH – In movies, sometimes there is a scene where the villain has the hero right where he wants him. The protagonist is dead to rights and needs a miracle to make it out alive. Instead of ending things right then and there, the desperado gives some long pointless speech about “how long they’ve waited for this moment,” and then boom, a sidekick comes out of nowhere, knocks the villain out, gives an epic “let’s get out of here!” and the hero lives to fight another day.
Today in Falmouth, Kyle Zimmer (San Francisco) was that sidekick.
In what was a win or go home game for Cotuit, Zimmer pitched seven masterful innings en route to a 2-1 Cotuit triumph. He owned the room at all times, never seeming like any part of the game was out of his control. He mixed his pitches all over the plate, never letting Falmouth know what was coming. The Commodores were off balance for eight of the nine innings, and were helpless against Kyle’s change up. Zimmer struck out five, walked two, and only surrendered four hits.
“That was the best he’s pitched all summer,” praised Cotuit coach Mike Roberts. “He had consistency, confidence, and the change up was the best it’s been.”
Even though Zimmer knew it was do or die, he had the same “business as usual” attitude.
“The coaches mentioned it before the game and I knew what was at stake. But I just tried to keep it the same, didn’t really try to think it over too much.”
Falmouth put the pressure on Cotuit in the 4th inning when Jeremy Baltz (St. Johns) doubled home Billy Ferriter (Uconn) to give Falmouth the early 1-0 edge. That one run felt like ten, considering that Falmouth starter Tyler Duffy (Rice) didn’t allow a base runner until Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) legged out an infield single in the top of the 5th.
But Cotuit refused to die. In the sixth inning, Patrick Biondi (Michigan) led off by slapping a single into right field. Kyle Wren (Georgia Tech) then blasted a ball to the wall in right putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Considering that Wren hadn’t hit many balls close to the warning track all year, Wren certainly served as an unlikely hero. Alex Yarbrough (Ole Miss) then came through with the two RBI’s that Cotuit needed by punishing a groundball over the head of Falmouth second basemen Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State) allowing Biondi and Wren to score.
Falmouth added a little Hollywood flavor of their own in the 8th inning. Zimmer walked Shane Rowland (Miami) to begin the frame. He was then subbed for Mason McVay (FIU) who sailed a wild pitch to the backstop allowing Rowland to reach second. Eric Garcia (Missouri) then drew a walk, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody gone. Coach Roberts had seen enough of McVay and put Michael Clevinger (Seminole JC) on the mound to face Billy Ferriter. Billy then grounded out to second where Micah Johnson (Indiana) tagged Garcia and then threw over to first to nab Ferriter for the key twin killing. Jake Rodriguez ended the inning with a harmless fly ball to left.
In the bottom of the 9th Max White (Oklahoma) reached base with one out by taking a Clevinger fastball to the back. But White was stranded by two consecutive fly balls by Falmouth.
While the victory does give Cotuit new life, the task is still daunting. With three games left for the Kettleers, they need to win at least two of those and pray for some help from Wareham and Hyannis. Two Kettleer’s losses, two Falmouth wins, or one of each would mean the end of the run for Cotuit. It should be noted that after Falmouth plays at Wareham tomorrow, they have three straight games against Hyannis to end the regular season, giving them one more game to play than Cotuit.
The hopeful Mike Roberts is aware the dreary situation, but still keeps the same objective in mind.
“Falmouth still holds the cards, and we need some help from them. But the goal is for each of the players to improve individually and we’re still working on that.”
Chris Beck (Georgia Southern) will try to save the day again for Cotuit, as he and the Kettleers will go up against the Bourne Braves at Lowell Park tomorrow at 5 o’clock.