Cotuit Knocks off Rival Bourne Braves on the Road in Gutsy Fashion

SAGAMORE, MA - There is hope yet for the upstart Cotuit Kettleers.

Foundering in last place in the Western Division, the defending Cape Cod Baseball League champions (6-12-1) picked themselves up by their collective bootstraps Saturday night, in front of a near-capacity crowd at Doran Park, and stepped victoriously on the bus headed for home back on Lowell Avenue.

Down 2-1, facing the host Bourne Braves (8-8-2) on a gorgeous early summer Cape Cod evening, overlooking the Sagamore Bridge and Cape Cod Canal, the Cotuit Kettleers did not give in to R.J. Alvarez's 94-mile-per-hour fastballs in the top of the ninth inning, and turned a tiny bit of good fortune into victory.

Cotuit centerfielder Krey Bratsen (Texas A & M), having played just one game in the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League thus far this summer, waved at a fiery offering from Bourne closer Alvarez for strike three. When the ball scooted away from Braves' catcher Blake Crohan (Tulane), Bratsen raced like the wind for first base and was deemed safe. With Bourne still ahead, 2-1, the tying run was now on base.

Kettleer Field Manager Mike Roberts, just a few days past collecting his 200th all-time victory as a Cape League helmsman, studied his lineup sheet and made the call for Indiana's Micah Johnson, who came in to pinch-hit for Oregon's Ryan Healy.

Johnson delivered by laying down a picture-perfect sacrafice bunt, moving Bratsen to second base. With one out, Alvarez's next offering went in the dirt and Bratsen alertly took third. With a fairly-sized contingency of Cotuit faithful on hand to cheer on and clap for the next Kettleer batter, Logan Vick (Baylor), the table was set for something exciting to happen.

Vick laid down a textbook safety squeeze bunt as Brantsen inched toward home, chomping at the bit to take off running. Alvarez scooped up the bunt and delivered the ball to first base for the second out.  Coach Roberts could be heard yelling "Go-go-go" as Brantsen headed home. As the throw from Hicks came sizzling back from first to home plate, Brantsen turned on the jets and slid in safely, just beneath the tag. The home plate umpire exclaimed "Safe" and while the home crowd moaned, the Cotuit faithful cheered. The game was now tied 2-2.

But with two outs and no one on base, someone had to do something to continue this sudden, motivational surge by the Kettleers. That someone, as it turned out, was Kevin Mager (Rollins College) who fisted a two-out single into shallow left to put the potential game-winning run on base. Struggling throughout the night to buy himself a hit, designated hitter Stefan Sabol (Oregon) then delivered precisely what Coach Roberts had recruited him for: a towering deep drive off the left field fence for an RBI-double and an almost previously unfathomable, 3-2 lead.

One could almost feel the collective hearts of the Bourne crowd sink as Mager thumped his cleats onto home plate in an affirmation of a job well-done. Alvarez poured his heart into the next sequence of pitches to Cotuit catcher Kevin Roundtree (USC), and settled down to strike Roundtree out with authority. But it proved to be just a little too late, even as Bourne came to bat in the bottom of the ninth inning.

With the hard-throwing Mississippi righty Bobby Wahl now in relief for Kettleer starter Chris Beck (Georgia Southern), Bourne did not seem to stand much of a chance for a comeback. But Wahl's nerves seemed to bite him as he faced the first batter, Auburn's Zach Alvord. Alvord looked at Wahl's first pitch, a blazing fastball down the middle of the plate for strike one, and then watched three straight balls go wide of the strike zone before Wahl plunked Alvord in the back with his fifth pitch. The potential tying run had just been walked, and not intentionally.

Bourne Braves' field manager Harvey Shapiro then called to his bench for pinch runner Josh Conway (Coastal Carolina).  Braves' first basemen Hicks took some mighty cuts at what Wahl had to offer but it was not enough as Wahl won the battle with a strikeout. With one out and Conway pinch-running on first, Georgia shortstop Kyle Farmer laced a single to left to put two runners on base. Shapiro again called to his bench, this time to Stonybrook's Patrick Cantwell. Cantwell came in to pinch-hit for Crohan, but the strategic attempt fell short as Cantwell grounded into a lightning fast, game-ending double-play.