By Courtney Swift
Kettleers Lead Writer
June 21, 2012
COTUIT – The Kettleers broke out the bats late in Thursday’s game, but it wasn’t enough to come back from a tough start and multiple defensive errors. Cotuit lost to the Orleans Firebirds for the second straight game, by a score of 8-6, bringing their record to 3-4 on the season.
After a stellar outing on opening day, Kyle Finnegan (Texas State) was back on the mound. His start was shaky for Cotuit, giving up three walks and a hit in the first inning before getting out of it on a 6-4-3 double play. He settled down in the second, but gave up five runs on five hits with three strikeouts on the night.
Orleans led 7-1 after the top of the sixth, but Cotuit wasn’t done scoring 5 runs in four innings. “These guys in the Cape League have good arms,” said Cael Brockmeyer (CSU Bakersfield). “You just try and put a good swing on every ball, try and hit it as hard as you can.”
Tony Kemp’s two triples not enough. (Photo by Mike Buccino)
Even two triples to center and right fields by Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) and back-to-back homers in the sixth by Adam Nelubowich (Washington State) and Brockmeyer only brought the Kettleers within three. “It’s the first time actually in the seven games that I’ve actually seen us drive the ball,” Coach Mike Roberts said. “We’re going to have to drive the baseball some to win.”
Brockmeyer, the Martha’s Vineyard native, is 3-6 in three games with the Kettleers this season. His high school teammate Tim Kiene (Maryland), Derek Smith (U. Pitt Bradford), and Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) all went 2-4 on the night.
Just when the Kettleers brought the score within one run, they gave one back. Jacob Stone gave up two singles to center leaving closer Dan Slania to get out of another jam with runners at the corners and no outs. He struck out the first batter he faced but gave up a sac-fly to center to Mike Montville (Maryland) bringing the score to 8-6. Cotuit got out of the inning, but wouldn’t score in its half taking the loss. “I’m still trying to find the right mixture which right now we’ve struggled a little bit with finding,” Roberts said. “I think we’re closer but I’ve really got to hopefully by the end of this weekend, hopefully we can find a mixture that will get us on a winning track.”
Adam McCreery (Arizona State) pitches Friday for the Kettleers looking for his first win of the season. He struck out nine batters in four innings in his last outing to help Cotuit win in Chatham. “Everybody needs to get wins under their belt to get confidence,” Roberts said. “You can’t base anything on the first couple of weeks in this because you can go from bottom to top and top to bottom in one week.” Cotuit faces the Brewster Whitecaps Friday at 5 p.m. at Lowell Park.