Cotuit Kettleers 2014 Roster (20-28-1)

Game Recaps, Notes, and Feature Stories of the 2014 Season – Host Family Photos

2014 SEASON STATS: Regular and Playoffs – STANDINGS: Regular and Playoffs

Select Prior Seasons:

 

2014 Coaches

Mike Roberts – Head Coach

Coach Roberts, who led the Kettleers to a 2013 Cape Cod League Championship, returns for his eleventh consecutive season in 2014. During his coaching tenure in the Cape League, which includes 2 seasons in Wareham in 1984 and 2000 where both teams made the play-offs, Coach Roberts has led his team to the play-offs in 7 of the 10 seasons in Cotuit. The Kettleers have brought home the Arnold Mycock trophy to Cotuit in 2010 and 2013. In 2012, the team won the President’s Trophy for the best regular season record in the league at 30-14. This was the first time the Kettleers had reached 30 wins under Coach Roberts’ leadership.

From 1978 through 1998, Roberts was the head coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Then he went on to UNC-Asheville, where he coached in the spring of 2000. All totaled, Roberts’ UNC teams made nine NCAA post-season and two College World Series appearances. Five times his teams captured the ACC Regular Season Championship and four times the ACC Tournament Championship. Eight of Roberts’ former players have been first round draft picks. Sixteen of his former players at UNC have played in Major League Baseball. His greatest individual coaching success is his own son, Brian Roberts, currently the two time all-star 2nd baseman for the New York Yankees.

Walt Weiss, who played for Coach Roberts at UNC-CH and went on to become the American League Rookie of the year in 1988, is the new manager of the Colorado Rockies. Five of Coach Roberts’ former players are now collegiate head coaches, many are assistants, and several others work in professional baseball or are professional baseball athlete’s advisors. “I am pleased so many of the excellent student/athletes I have recruited through the years continue to enjoy a career helping young men try to reach their academic, athletic, and career goals.”

Every summer in Cotuit the goal is to win a Cape League Championship. We strive to accomplish this goal with mature college student-athletes from around the nation who embrace practicing and playing at picturesque Elizabeth Lowell Park. Many of the Kettleers players become involved in our wonderful community with activities such as the Cotuit library writing program and the ever-growing Kettleers baseball clinics. The athletes provide excellent leadership to young people during the summer as they are also building close relationships, many which last a lifetime, with their host families.

Prior to managing Wareham to the Western Division regular season title in 2000, Roberts had led Wareham to the same title in 1984. Each of those two seasons, Roberts’ Cape League teams led the entire League in stolen bases and continued this tradition with the 2012 Kettleers. In 2000, Roberts’ Wareham team tied the Cape League all-time single season stolen base record with 134 stolen bases.

In the off-season, Coach Roberts has studied part-time for his Doctorate in Sports Administration at the University of New Mexico, does base stealing clinics, writes, and produces baseball videos. He has written 2 books on base stealing. The first titled “You Can’t Steal Second Base and Keep Your Foot on First!” published in Dec. 2008 and the 2nd book titled “Baserunning” was published in Dec. 2013. He is now consulting with professional teams, as well as colleges, on base stealing and base running.

Several base stealing videos were filmed at beautiful Elizabeth Lowell Park in Cotuit in 2011 and a hitting video was filmed at Lowell Park in 2012. His son Brian, who led the American League in stolen bases in 2007, contributed to the first book and the DVD which shows clips of Brian stealing bases for the Orioles.

Mike works full-time for Asbury University, outside of Lexington, Kentucky, as director of the Department of Sports Management and professor. He consults for two sports industry leaders during the off-season. He is Director of Baseball Development for SmartKage from Tyngsborough, Mass. SmartKage is the new leader in a high technology evaluation system and reports exact athletic performance levels by sport, age, and system.  Also, coach consults for Athletes’ Performance (Jan. 2014 changed their name to TeamExos), driving the Business Development for Baseball with minor league and major league baseball athletes. AP is featured often in publications and on ESPN as the premier athletic training center for Elite Athletes in the USA and around the world.

In Jan. 2014, Coach Roberts was voted into the American Baseball Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame and will be inducted in Orlando, Florida on Jan. 3, 2015.

Brian Scott – Assistant Coach

Brian returns for his fifth year with the Kettleers in 2014. He was an assistant coach for the 2010 and 2013 Cotuit championship teams.  He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Biology from DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. Brian earned three varsity letters as a pitcher with the Tigers. He was a coach in the Duluth East High School baseball program in Duluth, Minnesota during the springs of 2013 and 2014. Brian has worked at summer baseball camps at DePauw, Chesterton High School, the Training Center Baseball School, and U.S. Baseball Academy in Duluth-Proctor, Minnesota. He spent two years teaching environmental education at the Dunes Learning Center in Northwest Indiana and two years at the N.E.E.D. Academy (Seashore Program) in Truro, Massachusetts. Brian’s hometown is Chesterton, IN, and he currently lives in Duluth, MN.

Brian J. Bambenek, Assistant Coach

Brian begins his first season with the Kettleers. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education from Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was a 4-year outfield starter with the Auggies. After graduation, Brian worked as an assistant coach for the Auggies during the 2008 and 2009 season. Since that time, he has worked for the Minnesota Twins Youth Training Camp for seven years, started Bambenek Hitting Academy, and currently runs PHD Baseball Club out of Arden Hills, MN. Before going full-time with PHD, Brian taught primary education for six years. Brian’s hometown is St. Charles, MN and he currently lives in Minneapolis, MN.

Matt Pustay, Assistant Coach

Matt joins the Kettleers coaching staff for the first time in the 2014 season. He recently completed his fourth season at his alma mater, DePauw University, as an assistant baseball coach and second season as recruiting coordinator. As a player, Matt earned three varsity letters as a catcher.

In his time on the DePauw baseball staff, Matt has coached the catchers and assisted with the tutelage of the infield and outfield positions. Prior to coaching at DePauw, Matt was an assistant coach at Capital University. Additionally, Matt assisted at baseball camps at the University of Notre Dame, University of Kentucky, and the DeMarini Top-96 baseball camp. In the summer of 2013, Matt was the head coach of the Indiana Outlaws 17U summer team.

Matt received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication from DePauw University in 2009 and a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Indiana State University in 2013. His hometown is Granville, Ohio, and he currently resides in Plainfield, Indiana, with his wife Laura.

Tim Geromini, Assistant Coach

Tim joins the Kettleers coaching staff for the first time in the 2014 season. Tim is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association. He currently works at Cressey Performance in Hudson, MA, where he assisted in training baseball players from MLB, NCAA, High School and the general public clients. Tim was the Director of Baseball & Business Operations for the Lowell Spinners and Nashua Silver Knights baseball. Tim graduated from Curry College in 2009. Tim resides in Franklin, MA.