by Evan Barber (Living the Dream Blog)
Interviews by Evan Barber: Coach Roberts, Kyle Zimmer, Nathan Thornhill, Coach Trundy
July 15, 2011
FALMOUTH – On a day in which a pitcher has his best outing of the year, he would hope for a little run support. Kyle Zimmer (San Francisco) had his best start and the Kettleers left a goose egg on the scoreboard.The night started as an all-out pitchers’ duel, and through five innings there was a total of five hits. Zimmer faced off with pitcher Nathan Thornhill (Texas). Both pitchers mowed down the opponent’s line up.
Zimmer pitched six plus giving up just 1 earned on five hits. Zimmer’s fastball was alive, and his curve was breaking extremely well. Zimmer sat down the first seven batters he faced, and said he felt good.
“All my pitches felt good, they were coming out of my hands well, and I thought I hit my spots pretty well. Unfortunately we couldn’t get the win but what can you do, the other guy pitched well too.” said Zimmer
Zimmer came off one of his worst starts of the year against Hyannis, when he went just 4 ⅓ innings and gave up four earned on four hits in that game. Zimmer feels that after pitching a game like that you need to just go back to the basics.
“I went back in the bullpen, worked mid-week on Tuesday on trusting my stuff. I worked with coach Roberts about just staying through the plate because I was pulling up a little last week, so tonight I just tried to stay through the plate.” said Zimmer
Zimmer’s opponent, Thornhill pitched seven shut-out innings and gave up just 4 hits. Thornhill looked dominant through all seven innings in which he pitched. This was Thornhill’s first start for the Commodores. Thornhill had pitched a total of just 5 ⅓ innings in relief before last night.
The Commodores’ two runs both came in the 7th. The inning started with Jake Rodriguez (Oregon State) who singled up the middle. This was the end of the night for Zimmer. Relief pitcher Kendall Graveman (Mississippi State) came on to shut down the Commodores. Shutting down, however, is not exactly what he did.
Max White (Oklahoma) was the first batter to face Graveman and he dropped down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Rodriguez to second. Barrett Barnes (Texas Tech) then walked. With runners on first and second Jared King (Kansas State) singled to load them up for Spencer Kieboom (Clemson). Kieboom lined one to left that scored Rodriguez, and left the bases loaded. Eric Garcia (Missouri) put a pitch in the same spot to score Barnes. The next two Commodore batters were retired with no further damage.
The Kettleers threatened in the 8th when Alex Yarbrough (Mississippi) hit a lead off double. Jordan Leyland (UC Irvine), Deven Marrero (Arizona State), and power hitter Victor Roache (Georgia Southern) all had an opportunity to tie the game, instead the three were sat down in order to end the threat.
The Kettleers have scored a mere two runs in their last two games. If we’re going to see Cotuit in the playoffs, the lack of run support is going to need to end. The Kettleers had a chance to move out of the basement last night if they beat Falmouth. Instead they sit two games out of the playoff picture.
The Kettleers come back to the cozy confines of Lowell Park tonight night where they will face the Bourne Braves. The Braves come in at 16-11-2, winning eight of their last ten and sit in second place in the Western Division. The Kettleers are the bottom feeders of the West, coming in at 10-17-2, dropping their last four. It’s a 5:00 start, and it should be an interesting one.