By: Nick Solari, Writing Intern, Quinnipiac University
July 10, 2013
BREWSTER – Prior to Wednesday night’s game in Brewster, fans were unsure of whether or not the game would be played. Darkness encompassed the sky that threatened to rain all evening.
The rain held up, pinch-hitter Aaron Brown (Pepperdine) hit the go-ahead RBI single in the bottom half of the seventh, and the ominous clouds in the area couldn’t hold back the Whitecap’s offense from mounting five unanswered runs to come back and defeat the Kettleers by the final score of 6-5 in a darkness-shortened game.
Brewster was awarded their eighth win of the season after getting Cotuit second baseman Danny Diekroeger (Stanford) to ground out to end the top half of the eighth inning.
Diekroeger was 2-for-5 in his return to the lineup. He missed the last two weeks with an arm injury, and batted cleanup in his first game back.
“It felt really good to get back,” Diekroeger said after the game. “It’s been a couple weeks now and I was definitely itching to get back in the lineup. It was fun, and I was just happy to be out on the field with the guys.”
The Kettleers got on the board very quickly. Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt) led off the game with a first-pitch broken-bat double in between first and second base, and Mike Ford (Princeton) singled him in to make it 1-0 early on. Wiseman’s hit appeared to be a single, but he identified the lackadaisical play of Brewster’s outfielders and used his speed to get into scoring position for Ford.
Ford was 2-for-3 with two RBI’s and two walks on the night, raising his team-leading batting average to .370.
Kevin Bradley (Clemson) was next to do some first-inning damage for Cotuit. He grounded out to second base, driving in Ford to give the Kettleers a 2-0 advantage.
“It was great to get some runs early,” Kettleers assistant Brian Scott. “With the way we’ve been pitching we thought it would hold up, but we made some key mistakes and they got some hits when they needed it.”
Cotuit would eventually extend their lead to four runs heading into the bottom half of the fourth inning. Brewster rattled off three runs in that inning, two off of starter Alex Haines (Seton Hill) and one off of David Schmidt (Stanford).
Haines went 3.2 innings for the Kettleers, giving up five hits, three runs, two walks, and he struck out four.
Jared Walsh (Georgia) and Brian Miller (Vanderbilt) each went 1.2 innings out of relief after Schmidt. They had identical lines of allowing two hits and a run, striking out one.
“I think the off day tomorrow will help,” Scott said afterwards. “The bullpen has been so great all year. Basically anyone we’ve brought out there has done a wonderful job. They need to just keep doing what they’re doing and things will correct themselves.”
Scott Heineman (Oregon) paced the Whitecaps offense from the leadoff spot. He was 3-for-4 with an RBI, a run, and two stolen bases.
Heineman tripled in the fourth to drive in a run and cut the Cotuit lead to 5-4, then hit a ball on the ground to Bradley at third base in the sixth inning, and Bradley’s errant throw tied the game at five.
Brewster’s go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh was a product of some old-fashioned baseball. Trent Woodward (Fresno St.) singled to begin the inning and was then able to advance due to David Armendariz’s sacrifice bunt (Cal Poly).
Connor Schaefbauer (Minnesota) then pinch-ran for Woodward on second, and scored on Brown’s game-winning single off of Miller.
With the loss Cotuit falls to 14-10 on the season. They have an off day tomorrow, but return to action Friday at Lowell Park against the powerful offense of Falmouth.