By Jon Mettus
Syracuse University

June 10, 2016

Cotuit dropped its first game of the 2016 season to the Mariners, 8-3. Shaky defense made things difficult for the Kettleers from the start and Harwich plated seven unearned runs in the first two innings.

Here are three things we learned from the game.

Saturday’s lineup against Brewster lineup will be much different

Head coach Mike Roberts’ starting lineup looked like this for the first game of the year: Keith Rogalla (Creighton) on the mound and Cory Voss (Oregon) behind the plate; Jordan Pearce (Nevada) started at first, Josh Shaw (St. John’s) played second, Ricky Surum (Mt. Olive) debuted at short and Jake Bivens (Michigan) took third; Ben Ruta (Wagner) was in right field, Dayton Dugas (Wichita State) in center and Greyson Jenista in left (Wichita State).

But throughout the game, Roberts brought in 21 different players, including all 17 offensive players that he has. The starters had a rocky start in the field, committing four of the team’s six errors and giving up all eight of the team’s runs allowed through the first four innings.

“We got some pieces, as everybody does, still hanging out there,” Roberts said. “When they get there, I think, overall we’ll be fine. Tomorrow we’ll start a completely different lineup, totally different, and see if we can play better defense at home.”

The only player to play the whole game was Pearce. Catcher Tim Susnara (Oregon) is returning to Cotuit for his second season and is available to play Saturday, but wasn’t available on Friday.

Catcher Hagen Owenby has an arm

Hagen Owenby (East Tennessee) subbed in at catcher for the Kettleers in the bottom of the fifth inning and threw out Harwich’s Kyle Fiala (Notre Dame) trying to take third just four batters later.

Cotuit pitcher Ross Achter (Toledo) struck out Max Burt (Northeastern) and Owenby fired to third for the inning ending out.

In the next half inning, a pitch went into the dirt in front of Owenby and he caught Kyle Davis (West Virginia) in no man’s land, taking too many steps off first.

The players are adjusting to the fields

Friday was a sloppy night for the Kettleers in the field. Cotuit was tagged with six errors and gave up just one earned run to the Mariners, despite losing 8-3.

Surum said that there were some nerves getting the first game of the year out of the way and added that several players were getting used to the fields in the Cape Cod Baseball League, which made it harder to judge ground balls and the hops they would take.