Kettleers take Hyannis

Fans were treated to some great baseball Monday night at McKeon field. Kettleers fans, that is. In a real back and forth match the crew from Cotuit surged forward to claim the lead, much to the dismay of Mets fans.

Hyannis took an early lead in the game with Matt Mangini crossing the plate at the bottom of the second following a single by Sean O’Brien and a sacrifice fly by James Darnell. 

Jared McGuire made it a 2-0 lead during the next inning with a double down the left field line, coming home when Ryan Flaherty bounced one past second.

Before the Mets got too comfortable, however, the Kettleers staged a rally that took them through the remainder of the game. 

Kyle Russell kicked things off by singling, only to come home after the Mets tallied two errors in a row, bringing Cotuit to within one of the Mets. The tying run was brought in by Sean Gaston on a fielder’s choice.

Hyannis brought in relief pitcher Gary Lee to replace starter Josh Collmenter in the hopes that the Kettleers would be stopped. Although the move was initially successful, Gaston singled to bring in Justin Smoak, giving Cotuit the lead.

In the bottom of the sixth Hyannis answered the rally call, tying the game on an RBI from Sean O’Brien’s single.

Controversy struck during the seventh inning when Russell was ejected for leaving the bench early to take his field position following a questionable third out call by the ump. 

The ejection caused a seven-minute interruption of the game by Kettleers coach Mike Roberts, who had the umpires inform the press box that the game was now being played under his protest.

Tony Tucker took over for Russell, who took a seat in the dugout. Tucker, up to bat first, singled before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gaston. Eric Farris then brought in Tucker on his single, giving Cotuit the go-ahead. Jeff Rea provided padding with another run, while Cotuit reliever Cory Gearrin notched his first win of the season by shutting down the Mets in the bottom of the ninth with a quick three outs. That brought the final tally to 5-3, Cotuit.

"We’ll come back tomorrow," said Mets coach Greg King.

Mets crush Kettleers

There were fireworks in Cotuit on the Fourth, but not where Kettleers fans expected them. Instead of lighting up the summer sky, the fireworks were on the field at Lovell Park as the Hyannis Mets whomped the Cotuit Kettleers 6-1.

Mets pitcher Charlie Furbush owned the game, allowing only five hits during his first eight innings on the mound. Although the first hit Furbush gave up was a homer to Matt Angle, he then struck out the nerve center of the Cotuit lineup, netting six strikeouts and only three walks.

An early lead by the Mets forced the exit for Kettleers starter Tim Ladd who was replaced by Bobby Bramhall. 

Unfortunately for the Kettleers, Bramhall was no match for the hot bats of the Mets. Matt Mangini had a two-out RBI single that brought in David Macias. Macias also scored in the second along with Mark McGonigle and Jared McGuire when Ryan Flaherty hit a beautiful, base-clearing double. 

Quick throwing by Furbush and Mangini prevented Cotuit from staging a rally. Mangini threw out Tony Thomas Jr. on a hard grounder toward third, while Furbush stopped Eric Farris as he attempted to steal second, ending the inning.

There was a bit of drama in the seventh following the stretch when a missed catch by Macias led to an unexpected double by Kyle Russell. Macias made up for the drop, though, by turning in a nice diving catch on a hit by Farris. Pop flies by Sean Gaston and Rhys Havens left Russell stranded.

After pitching a little more than eight innings Furbush was relieved by Daniel Latham, who finished out the game. With the win, the Mets chalk up their seventh victory of the season and move one step closer to overtaking Cotuit in the race for the 

Patriot Cup. 

By Kathleen Szmit Manwaring
kmanwaring@barnstablepatriot.com