11 August, 2005

Cotuit falls short in playoff opener

Cotuit couldn't hold onto an early lead and was shut down after the second inning Tuesday in dropping the opener of the Cape Cod Baseball League Western Division best-of-3 playoff series to Bourne, 3-1.

The two teams were scheduled to play Game 2 of the best-of-3 Western Division series Wednesday at Cotuit, after The Register deadline. Chatham took a 1-0 lead in the East playoffs Tuesday night with a 6-3, 11-inning victory over regular-season champion Orleans.

Cotuit got to Brad Lincoln on Sean Gaston's second-inning double, an infield hit by Devin Thomas and Shane Jordan's single. The Kettleers were throttled by an unsuccessful bunt attempt and a double play.

The Kettleers couldn't capitalize despite having base runners the first five innings. In the fifth, Brad Boyer singled to right, Todd Davison walked, but with two on and no outs, Julio Borbon popped up a bunt to Lincoln, who then struck out Rodrigo Lopez and Sean Gaston to retire the side.

Nathan Culp pitched a strong game for the Kettleers, allowing one run while striking out six through five innings. But in the sixth, Brett Bartles' grounder off Culp scored the go-ahead run and the Braves got an insurance run in the eighth when Mike Hernandez reached first on an error, moved to second on an errant pickoff attempt, and scored after three straight walks by reliever Daniel Moskos.