The home field advantage is certainly working in Cotuit’s favor as the team netted one more win on Monday against the Harwich Mariners. 

Justin Smoak (University of South Carolina) slammed a home run while Jay Brown (Young Harris College in Georgia) threw five shutout innings to garner the Kettleers a tidy 3-0 win over the Mariners.

Brown threw 90 pitches during five-plus innings, picking up his first victory of the season, Cotuit’s second shutout. 

At bat, Cotuit was formidable, turning on the heat in the third inning. Notre Dame’s Brett Lilley singled before stealing second, his first stolen base of the season. Jeff Rea (Mississippi State) tripled, bringing in Lilley, before Sean Gaston (Notre Dame) brought in another run with a sacrifice bunt. Smoak’s homer sealed the deal, securing the win, the fourth game Cotuit has won at home.

On Tuesday the Kettleers took to the road, trouncing the Orleans Cardinals in a 4-0 shutout that came with a few anxious moments.

At the top of the third inning, Coach Mike Roberts was ejected from the game for arguing with the home plate umpire. Fortunately, Cotuit was able to recover and continued their attack on Orleans.

Pitching superbly for the Kettleers was James Simmons (Cal State, Riverside) who picked up his second victory of the season. Simmons has pitched 15 innings this season and has yet to allow a run. He now adds 14 strikeouts to that impressive record.

Offensively the Kettleers were spot on in spite of continued mid-game controversies. In the fifth inning Ohio State’s Matt Angle slammed what appeared to be a triple. After much debate by field officials, that call was reversed and counted as a double due to fan interference. 

In spite of everything, though, the Kettleers maintained a strong focus and quickly chalked up the win thanks to a single from Jeff Rea (Mississippi) and a sweet two-run homer from Smoak, his third homerun of the season. And RBI single from Lilley sealed the deal, securing Cotuit’s position at the top of the CCBL Western Division.

By Kathleen Szmit Manwaring
kmanwaring@barnstablepatriot.com