By Ben Gainsboro, Stetson University
Photos by Josh Muir, Endicott College
July 7th, 2019
What Happened: Cotuit (11-10-2) beat Bourne (7-14) 8-6 on Sunday night.
Cotuit played well as a team against Bourne on Sunday, with the Kettleers racking up eight runs on eleven hits. Let us take a look at some of the top performers from the game on this edition of “three cheers.”
As always, there were more cheers to go around, but these were the best of the best.
One Cheer for: Allbry Major (Xavier)
Major’s performance in the box score will not exactly wow you. The Xavier Musketeer got an early pinch-hit opportunity in the fifth, when he filled in for Christian Robinson (Stanford) with the bases loaded and the Kettleers leading Bourne by one.
What followed was what many Kettleer fans were calling the “best at bat of the summer.”
Allbry Major takes a swing during Cotuit’s road win at Bourne on Sunday night
The first twelve pitches of the at-bat went as follows: Ball, called strike, swinging strike, foul, ball, foul, foul, ball, foul, foul, foul, foul.
Twelve pitches, seven fouls.
“Oh my goodness,” Coach Mike Roberts said postgame. “That was a huge turning point in the game. I thought he fouled off some really good pitches before he hit that double down the left field line. If you had to choose a turning point, that was it.”
Major would later put together another incredible at-bat in the ninth, this one was ten pitches, with four balls being fouled off.
“I was just trying to see the ball up,” Major said. “I just saw it and I hit it…found something in the zone, eventually.”
The two RBI day for Major puts him at seven for the season.
Two Cheers for: Zachary McCambley (Coastal Carolina)
McCambley got his fourth start of the season for Cotuit, and this one was arguably his best.
“I thought he was excellent, I thought this was his best start,” Mike Roberts said. “His velocity looked really good, I thought his breaking ball was excellent, to me it was his best start this year.”
McCambley throws home against Bourne on Sunday night
Roberts also noted that McCambley would have gone back out for more had the top of the fifth inning not been so long (Cotuit struck for six runs).
McCambley’s final line, however, was still very strong. The Chanticleer went four innings, allowing just one hit and one run. He did walk three, but he also struck out a dazzling seven Braves in his four innings pitched.
With Cotuit having to fill in for the departing Joe Nahas (Georgia Southern), seeing McCambley step up in this one was a very welcome sight.
McCambley now owns a 2.34 ERA with 17 strikeouts in four starts this season.
Three Cheers for: Casey Schmitt (San Diego State)
While players who can pitch, hit, and play a defensive position effectively are not a particularly rare sight in college, seeing the feat done (well) at a level like the Cape league is rare.
In the preseason, Roberts commented to us and his team that he loved these “California utility guys.” One of those Californians is Casey Schmitt, who continues to have a quietly underrated season at the Cape.
Schmitt only recorded one hit in this one, a double in the top of the fifth, but it was what he did when a glove was in his hand that most impressed the Kettleer faithful on the day.
Kettleer utility man Casey Schmitt does it with the bat against Bourne on Sunday night
Defensively, he made two plays at third base that Coach Roberts described as “rare to see in the major leagues, almost impossible to see at this level.” He also used the term: “all-world plays.”
Both plays, one in the third and one in the fifth, involved Schmitt diving to his right (the third base line) and throwing from beyond the bag to get a runner at first. Both plays have been submitted to the Sportscenter Top 10.
When he wasn’t making crazy defensive plays, he was getting Cotuit out of jams on the mound. With bases loaded and none out in the bottom of the eighth, Schmitt only allowed one run to cross the dish, preserving Cotuit’s 7-2 advantage.
With a thin roster at the third base slot, Schmitt has cemented himself as an everyday starter at the hot corner. What has resulted is three home runs and ten RBI.
Beyond that, however, is Schmitt slowly solidifying himself as one of the most consistent arms for the Kettleers in the later innings. Cotuit has a solid bullpen, but being able to take a guy like Casey or Matt Mervis (Duke) and plugging him into the mound from the field is a luxury that few teams have.
What’s Next?
The Kettleers go back on the road Monday night to face off with the Wareham Gatemen (12-10-1). The Gatemen are the current leaders in the western division, with Cotuit close (one point) behind. First pitch at Spillane Field is set for 6:45 P.M.