By Ben Fischer

University of Maryland

June 27, 2018

COTUIT – Despite being outhit 11-7 and making three errors, the Cotuit Kettleers erased two two-run deficits to defeat the Bourne Braves on the road 6-5 on Wednesday night.

The Kettleers left nine runners on base in the win, but were still able to reach their magic number of five runs against Braves pitching. Cotuit is now 8-0 when they score five or more runs and 0-6 when they fail to do so.

The Braves took the lead in the first, scoring two runs against Cotuit starter Griffin McLarty (College of Charleston). The first run came on an RBI single by third baseman Jared Triolo (Houston). Two batters later, first baseman Spencer Horowitz (Radford) doubled Bourne’s lead with a sacrifice fly.

Cotuit left runners on in the first and second innings before converting in the third. Right fielder Michael Toglia (UCLA) got the Kettleers on the board, driving in left fielder Jakob Goldfarb (Oregon) with a ground ball to the second baseman that was misplayed for an error. Third baseman Eric Jones (Davidson) tied the game with two outs, driving in Toglia with a single to left field.

Bourne retook the lead in the fourth on a two-run homer by second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald (Louisville). But the Kettleers struck right back with a three-run fifth. Jones started the scoring by once again driving in Toglia, flying out to shallow center and allowing Toglia to tag up and score. Second baseman Michael Salvatore (Florida State) gave Cotuit the lead in his first start, driving in two runs with a single to left field.

“I was just trusting myself swinging the bat. I’m just trying to stay patient and trust my approach,” Salvatore said.  

Jakob Goldfarb (Oregon) plays catcher at Chatham on June 24, 2018

After the Braves tied the game in the sixth, Cotuit took the lead for good in the eighth. Goldfarb drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly to deep left field.

After saying he felt his team had not “competed” in losses to Hyannis and Y-D, coach Mike Roberts praised his team’s effort in the hard-fought win in Bourne.

“It’s been a couple days since I’ve seen them really compete and that’s what you’re looking for,” Roberts said. “To me, they competed all through the ballgame and that’s why they won it. You could feel it, it was just a different feeling in the dugout.”

The Kettleers were scheduled to be off Thursday, but instead will be in action at Lowell Park, facing the Orleans Firebirds at 5 p.m.