Cotuit Wins It

The Cotuit Kettleers show off their championship hardware.

 
When Cotuit opened the 2013 Cape Cod Baseball League season against Orleans on June 12, Caleb Bryson was in Lima, Ohio, going 1-for-3 for the Hamilton Joes in the Great Lakes Summer Collegiate League. Garrett Stubbs was not far away from Cotuit, in Plymouth, going 1-for-4 for the NECBL’s Plymouth Pilgrims against the Ocean State Waves. Austin Byler was rehabbing an injury in Nevada. Jake Fincher and Logan Ratledge were on their way to Omaha. Stanford teammates Drew Jackson and Danny Diekroeger hadn’t suited up yet. Mark Payton was weighing his options after just getting drafted in the 16th round. Rhett Wiseman had just finished his season with Vanderbilt. Evan Beal was one day removed from South Carolina’s heart-breaking Super Regional loss to North Carolina. Wesley Cox and Dalton Potts were playing for the Front Royal Cardinals in the Valley League. Bradley Zimmer was in a Cotuit uniform, but he knew he’d soon be packing his bags for a summer with Team USA.

On August 15, they were all on a Cape Cod field together.

And they were celebrating.

Cotuit’s remarkable season of near-constant change ended with a Cape Cod Baseball League championship. If the Kettleers are getting rings, they’re going to need quite a few. Fifty-one players donned a Cotuit uniform this summer. Every week, they lost somebody. Every week, they gained somebody. Somehow, they were one of the league’s best teams while they rode the roster roller-coaster. Whoever was on the field – whoever wasn’t – the Kettleers found a way to play winning baseball more often than not.

They did it one last time Thursday night.

Cotuit completed a championship sweep of Orleans with a 6-1 victory at Eldredge Park, capturing its second Cape League title in four years.

It was clinched on the strength of a championship-worthy all around performance. Christian Cecilio (San Francisco) went six scoreless innings, turning in his best start of the year when Cotuit needed it most. The offense took an early lead, putting the pressure on, and pulled away late. The defense didn’t make an error. And the Kettleers had to feel like they were living right when Pat Quinn’s would-be grand slam in the seventh inning went just foul.

Cecilio allowed just four hits. Brian Miller (Vanderbilt) pitched a third of an inning and gave up three hits. He’d shut down Orleans’ comeback attempts the night before, but manager Mike Roberts didn’t hesitate to pull him. Wesley Cox (Texas San Antonio) came in, got out of a bases-loaded jam and then finished the job.

The trio held Orleans to one run, just the second time the Firebirds have scored one run since July 17.

And the pitchers had support. Facing Jared Miller (Vanderbilt), who had been fantastic late in the season, the Cotuit offense scratched and clawed. Danny Diekroeger (Stanford) knocked in a run in the third on an infield single for the 1-0 lead. The Kettleers then went two innings without a hit before another infield single, this one by Drew Jackson (Stanford), scored the second run.

Orleans had designs on a comeback, but came up empty on the bases-loaded chance in the seventh. In the next half-inning, Cotuit blew the doors off with four more runs, despite the fact that Orleans went to dominant closer Matt Troupe (Arizona) when it got into trouble. A squeeze, an error and a two-run single by Nolan Clark (Concordia) made it 6-0.

The Firebirds scored a run in the ninth but Cox finished the game by inducing a ground-out.

Cotuit celebrated.

Cape League champions often have a signature, a brand that defines their seasons or their playoff runs. For Wareham in 2012, it was late-inning magic and overwhelming power. For Y-D’s mini-dynasty from 2004 to 2007, it was terrific talent buying into a winning culture.

This Cotuit team won in many different ways, with many different people. When they lost talent, they brought in talent. When they took the field with newcomers all over the place, it didn’t matter. It turned into a positive. The Kettleers rode players who were thrilled to get a chance in the Cape League.

Their signature is their lack of signature, their ability to play good baseball – and the organization’s ability to build a good baseball team – no matter what.

On a given day, the Kettleers found a way to win that day’s game.

On August 15, with a team that was scattered across the country two months before – and with a whole other team’s worth of former players watching and rooting from Georgia and Texas and California and the New York Penn League – they won a very big one.

 

Kettleers to the Lead

Caleb Bryson hit a home run, his six in nine games, as Cotuit took a 1-0 lead in the championship series.

 
The last time Cotuit and Orleans played in the regular season, the Firebirds won a 2-0 shutout. They came into the Cape League championship series with a little extra rest and with their pitching lined up. They had won 15 of their last 18.

Cotuit, as always, was undeterred.

The Kettleers broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the eighth and out-pitched Orleans pretty much the whole way en route to a 4-2 victory yesterday in game one of the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series. Cotuit is one win away from its second championship in four years.

Cotuit took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of Wednesday’s game on a home run by Caleb Bryson (Samford), who has to be one of the greatest late-season pick-ups in Cape League history. Bryson has six home runs in nine games with the Kettleers.

For a while, it looked like the lead would hold up. While Orleans starter Bobby Poyner (Florida) kept it from growing by escaping two bases-loaded jams, Cotuit’s Evan Beal (South Carolina) kept it from shrinking for four innings. Beal, who pitched five strong innings in a start in the Falmouth series, was even better this time, scattering five hits in six innings.

But the Firebirds came on. A base hit by Geoff DeGroot (UMass-Lowell) that was mis-played in left field allowed a run to score in the fifth. Orleans then tied it in the seventh when Ross Kivett (Kansas State) drew a bases-loaded walk.

Both teams missed chances after that, with Cotuit coming up empty after a failed squeeze bunt in the seventh and Orleans’s Austin Davidson (Pepperdine) getting thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple in the top of the eighth.

At that point, the vaunted Orleans bullpen was in action, but Cotuit broke the tie anyway. In the bottom of the eighth, Cotuit loaded the bases on a walk, a double by Logan Ratledge (NC State) and an intentional walk. Orleans went lefty-lefty against Bradley Zimmer (San Francisco) with Brian Clark (Kent State), who hadn’t allowed a run since July 16, but Zimmer delivered. He chopped a single up the middle and two runs scored to put Cotuit ahead.

Needing just three outs, Cotuit reliever Wesley Cox (Texas San Antonio) cruised, getting two groundouts and a strikeout to end it.

Game two is set for tonight at 7 p.m. in Orleans. The Firebirds were down 1-0 in their first-round series to Harwich before coming back to win, while Cotuit was up 1-0 in its West finals series with Bourne before getting pushed to a third game. I don’t think anybody would be surprised to see the Cape League summer continue for one more day after tonight.

Surprise, surprise

Cotuit celebrates its victory in game two. The Kettleers celebrated again last night.

 
The Cape League’s Western Division was tightly-packed all year, and it held true to form in the first round of the playoffs. No. 3 seed Cotuit upset No. 2 Falmouth in game three last night, while No. 4 Bourne knocked off No. 1 Hyannis in their game three. Both Cotuit and Bourne lost the first game of the series before winning the next two. It’s the second time in the four years of this playoff format that a No. 3 and No. 4 team from the same division have both advanced. Cotuit and Wareham did it in 2010, with Cotuit going on to the league title.

In the East, Orleans held off Harwich for a spot in the division championship opposite Chatham.

Cotuit 5, Falmouth 2

The Cotuit-Falmouth was back-and-forth series between two really good teams, and game three was more of the same. Falmouth jumped ahead 2-0 in the first, but Cotuit came back to take the lead in the fourth and held off every Commodore charge to win it.

The 2-0 Falmouth lead was built in loud fashion, when Casey Gillaspie (Wichita State) launched a home run to the street beyond left field at Guv Fuller Field, which is a pretty serious shot.

But Cotuit was undeterred.

Starter Christian Cecilio (San Francisco) went six innings and the homer was his only blemish. He retired seven straight after the home run and allowed just two more hits the rest of the way. Facing Gillaspie in the fourth with runners on first and third, Cecilio induced an inning-ending double play.

That performance set the stage for the Kettleers to break through, and they did. Hunter Cole (Georgia) had an RBI double in the second to cut the lead in half. In the fourth, Cole drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game and Austin Byler (Nevada) knocked in the go-ahead run with a sacrifice fly. Cotuit added a run in the eighth on a squeeze bunt by Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt) and another in the ninth on a Garrett Stubbs (USC) RBI single.

Cotuit reliever Wesley Cox (Texas San Antonio) stranded two in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth when he had to go through Rhys Hoskins (Sacramento State) and Gillaspie. He struck out Hoskins and got Gillaspie to fly out. Cox gave up one more single in the ninth but induced a pair of fly-outs to end it.

The Kettleers are into the West finals for the first time since their championship season in 2010.

For Falmouth, the loss ended a terrific year that included a share of the regular-season title and a whole lot of offense. The Commodores were a fun team to watch, and I imagine we’ll hear a lot of these names again when the draft rolls around next year.

 

Bourne 9, Hyannis 2

Rocky McCord (Auburn) struck out nine in five innings for Hyannis, but Bourne broke the game open against the Harbor Hawks bullpen and cruised to the upset victory.

The Braves trailed 2-1 going into the sixth, but scored three runs to take the lead then blew the doors off with five in the eighth.

Trent Gilbert (Arizona), who scored the only run in Bourne’s 1-0 victory the night before, went 3-for-5 on Thursday with three RBI. He was part of a huge effort from the bottom of the Bourne order. Eight hitter Tyler Kuresa (UC Santa Barbara) went 2-for-5 with two RBI and nine hitter Richard Gonzalez (Alabama State) went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Clint Freeman (East Tennessee State) added two hits and an RBI.

Cody Livingston (Southern Miss) was dominant out of the Bourne bullpen, which kept the Braves within striking distance. Livingston struck out six and allowed just one hit in 3.2 innings. Sam Dodge (Harvard), making his first appearance, struck out two in a scoreless ninth.

Landon Curry (Indiana State) and Steve Wilkerson (Clemson) had three hits each for Hyannis, but it wasn’t enough.

The Braves are into the West finals for the second straight year. They also did it as the No. 4 seed last year.

Hyannis bids farewell to a talented group that gave the franchise its second division title in three years.

 

Orleans 2, Harwich 0

Jared Miller (Vanderbilt) and Aaron Bummer (Nebraska) matched each other pitch-for-pitch for six innings before the Firebirds scratched runs across in the seventh and eighth to get the victory.

Miller struck out eight and allowed just three hits in seven scoreless innings. He took a no-hitter into the fifth. Bummer struck out seven and took a shutout into the seventh, before Orleans found a way – a weird way – to get to him. With runners on second and third in the seventh, Bummer threw a wild pitch as he was trying to issue an intentional wall, and Austin Davidson (Pepperdine) raced home.

Orleans added another run in the eighth on a Davidson RBI single, and reliever Brian Clark (Kent State) made the lead stand up. Clark, who tied for the league lead in appearances, had yet to pitch in the playoffs but made it worth the wait. He allowed just a walk while keeping Harwich off the board for the final two innings.

Davidson and Will Fulmer (Montevallo) had two hits to lead the Orleans offense.

The Firebirds will face Chatham in the East finals, the first time the two have met in a finals series since 2005. That Orleans team featured Manny Burriss and it beat an Evan Longoria-led Chatham team on its way to the championship. That was the last league championship for Orleans.

Harwich closed out a memorable campaign and playoff run. The two teams were separated by one point in the regular-season standings and by a total of two runs in the three playoff games.

 

What to Watch

If the weather cooperates, it’ll be Bourne visiting Cotuit at 4 p.m. and Orleans traveling to Chatham at 7 p.m.

The Bourne starter is likely Kris Gardner (Wichita State), who had some ups and downs but went seven strong innings in his last start. Cotuit’s starter is TBA. Also keep an eye on the status of Max Pentecost. The Cape League MVP was not in the lineup for Bourne last night, and Jen McCaffrey of the Cape Cod Times reported it was because of a bum knee.

Orleans’ probable starter is listed as Corey Miller (Pepperdine), who’s been solid all summer and went five scoreless in his last start. Chatham will send all-star Matt Gage (Siena) to the hill.
 

Staying Alive

Orleans beat Harwich 4-3 to force game three in its East semifinal.

 
Chatham is into the next round with a sweep of Y-D, the franchise’s first playoff series win since 2001.

The other three games were decided by one run for a second straight night – and they all went in the other direction. Cotuit, Bourne and Orleans avoided sweeps and kept their seasons alive.

 

Cotuit 5, Falmouth 4

In perhaps the best Cape League game of the summer, the Kettleers came from behind twice after the fifth inning and won the game on a walk-off in the 10th.

It was a fitting finish, too. The Kettleers could probably field two teams with all the players that have come through there this summer, and somehow the team still finished one point out of first place. No matter who was in the lineup, they were getting it done. Yesterday, they got a game-tying two-run homer from Austin Byler (Nevada), a late pick-up. And in the 10th, they won the game on a walk-off RBI single by Garrett Stubbs (USC), who began his Cape League career on August 3.

The Commodores looked poised for a sweep when they went up 3-0 in the fourth on a three-run homer by Kevin Cron (TCU). Meanwhile, ace John Means (West Virginia) cruised through five innings.

But Cotuit wasn’t going down easy. A three-run rally in the sixth capped by Byler’s home run tied the game. After Falmouth went up by one in the seventh, Cotuit tied it again in the eighth, setting the stage for the 10th-inning heroics.

Wesley Cox (Texas-San Antonio), another recent arrival, got the win in relief for the Kettleers.

Game two is slated for today at 5:30 p.m in Falmouth. Probably pitchers are TBA.

 

Bourne 1, Hyannis 0

Two largely unheralded pitchers staged a duel to match what stars Ryan Kellogg and Kyle Freeland did the night before, and Bourne pushed a run across in the eighth for the win.

Kyle Kubat (Nebraska) delivered his best start of the summer for the Braves, striking out six and scattering six hits in 6.2 innings. His counterpart, Cy Sneed (Dallas Baptist), was just as good for Hyannis, striking out seven and allowing only three hits while also going 6.2 innings.

In the eighth, Bourne broke through against Hyannis reliever Jordan DeLorenzo (West Florida), a late arrival who had yet to allow a run. Trent Gilbert (Arizona) singled to start the rally, and Tim Caputo (Rhode Island) followed with a bunt single that rolled fair. DeLorenzo retired Mark Laird (LSU) and newly-crowned Cape League MVP Max Pentecost, but Clint Freeman (East Tennessee State) knocked an RBI single into right field to score the go-ahead run.

Michael Costello (Radford), who had come on in the seventh and stranded a pair of runners, gave up two singles in the ninth but wiggled out of trouble to finish off a victory for the Braves.

Game two will go off at 6 p.m. today at McKeon Park in Hyannis. Jacob Lindgren (Mississippi State), who had pitched out of the bullpen to start the summer before going six shutout innings in his only start, will go for the Braves. Rocky McCord (Auburn), who has allowed one run in his last two starts, gets the ball for Hyannis.

 

Orleans 4, Harwich 3

Orleans took a lead in the third and held onto it through a few Harwich rallies, winning by a run and forcing a game three.

Ross Kivett (Kansas State), Jordan Luplow (Fresno State) and Chris Marconcini (Duke) knocked in the runs in the third, and the three were enough for Bobby Poyner (Florida). He took a shutout into the seventh before giving up one run. He went seven full innings, striking out three and allowing just four hits.

Closer Matt Troupe (Arizona) came on for the eighth and got into trouble, giving up a walk and two straight singles. A fielder’s choice off the bat of Ian Happ (Cincinnati) scored two and made it a one-run game.

But Troupe buckled down. He stranded Happ on second with a strikeout of A.J. Reed (Kentucky), who had homered an inning before. In the ninth, Troupe struck out two to finish off the victory.

For Harwich, Nick Howard (Virginia) turned in an impressive start, striking out nine in nine in seven innings, but he was the hard-luck loser.

Game three is set for Eldredge Park tonight at 7 p.m., and it might be the best pitching match-up of all the game threes. All-Star Game starter Aaron Bummer (Nebraska) will go for Harwich against Jared Miller (Vanderbilt), who struggled in his last start but struck out 10 in six scoreless innings the start before that.

 

Chatham 9, Y-D 4

Chatham led 2-0 for much of the game but found itself tied 3-3 in the eighth. That’s when the Anglers exploded, getting a grand slam from J.D. Davis (Cal State Fullerton) and scoring six runs to send them on their way to the next round.

Tommy Lawrence (Maine), who lost to Y-D in a playoff start last year, turned it around this time, giving up just one earned run in 5.1 innings. Jacob Dorris (Texas A&M Corpus Christi) got the win in relief when the Anglers broke through.

After tying the game in the seventh, they took the lead in the eighth on RBI singles by Blake Butera (Boston College) and Landon Lassiter (North Carolina). Then came the big blow. With the bases loaded, Davis smacked a home run out of the same field where he won All-Star Game MVP honors.

Dorris gave up one run in the bottom of the eighth but Dominic Moreno (Texas Tech) closed the door in the ninth, sealing the sweep for Chatham and ending Y-D’s season.

James Kaprielian (UCLA) was a bright spot for the Red Sox, striking out nine in five innings. D.J. Stewart (Florida State) homered and Alex Blandino (Stanford) finished a terrific Cape League career with two hits.

Chatham won a playoff series for the first time since 2001, when it won the East and lost to Wareham in the league championship.

The Anglers get a day off while the rest of the teams hit the field for game threes.