The Cotuit Kettleers were on the end of some rough handling Wednesday by the Yarmouth-Dennis as the Red Sox pounded out 16 hits claiming a 12-0 victory. A five-run bottom of the first set the tone for the Red Sox, who scored two more in the third and five in the sixth. Y-D has been red hot of late, winning nine of their last 10.

Dan DeLucia (Ohio State) got the start and took the loss for the Kettleers. Dan Runzler (UC Riverside) pitched three innings in relief surrendering five runs. Coach Mike Roberts turned things over to multi-talented third baseman Brett Lilly (Notre Dame), not normally a pitcher, in the ninth and Lilly delivered a one-hit performance striking out one.

Reese Havens (South Carolina) was the lone Kettleer with multiple hits on the normally hard-hitting Cotuit squad that finished with just six hits for the day.

As of Wednesday Cotuit was still at the top of the 10-team Cape Cod Baseball League with 37 points. 

In a battle of the long ball Tuesday at Red Wilson Field in South Yarmouth, the two top clubs to this point in the season faced off, with Cotuit edging the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox 6-5.

The Kettleer victory ended a nine-game Y-D win streak, the longest in team history. According to former Cape League historian Bruce Hack, the Red Sox’s previous best was eight straight wins from June 29 - July 7, 2002. The last team to win at least eight consecutive games was Chatham, which won eight in a row from July 20-28 in 2005. The last team to win more than eight straight was Cotuit in 2002, when the Kettleers opened the season with 13 straight wins.

Sean Gaston (Notre Dame) launched the home-run heroics with a two-run shot to right centerfield in the top of the first. In the fourth, Justin Smoak (South Carolina) drove a three-run blast over the centerfield fence, and Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison) opened the top of the eighth by launching one over the right field fence.

Graham Godfrey (College of Charleston) got the start and went four and one-third innings allowing four runs on eight hits. Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech) pitched three scoreless frames in relief to pick up the win and Cory Gearrin (Young Harris) earned his fifth save.

Another interesting fact from the files of Bruce Hack: Gearrin’s teammate at Young Harris, Jay Brown, has pitched 20 consecutive scoreless innings. He is the 15th known pitcher to have a streak of at least 20 innings in the modern era (since 1963). It is the second longest streak by a Cotuit pitcher behind Rick Burley’s (1971) stretch of 27.2 consecutive shutout innings. Burley has the eighth best mark in league history. Keith Evans (Chatham, 1995) is first on the all-time list at 31.2 consecutive shutout innings pitched.

Mike Cisco (South Carolina) improved his record to 2-0 this summer with a 5-1 victory over the Bourne Braves on Monday. Cisco went five innings allowing one run on five hits giving way to Shane Mathews (East Carolina), who worked two scoreless innings in relief. Tim Ladd entered in the eighth, and then ran into trouble in the top of the ninth when he loaded the bases with no outs.

Coach Mike Roberts went to the bullpen, summoning closer Gearrin, who struck out the first two Braves he faced and got the third to ground out, nailing down his fourth save of the season.

Gearrin is quickly becoming recognizable around the league this summer for his trademark flat-out sprint in from the bullpen.

“(At Bourne) I was a little winded,” he laughed. “Bourne is a big field, I was a little tired when I got to the mound. Coach Roberts told me to stop for a second and breathe. Growing up I have always been taught to hustle. It’s one of the most important parts of the game. It sets the tempo for me. When I’m ready to go there I want to get out there and do it. And, I guess I’m just not a big walking guy.”

Gearrin opened the spring season with the Young Harris Mountain Lions at middle relief, but closing was on his mind.

“The closer role was something I’ve always wanted to have,” Gearrin smiled. “It’s my favorite. I love coming in with high intensity and having a lot of pressure on me.”

In high school he was a position player, but in his senior season he got a taste of what it was like to close.

“I came into a 3-2 game with the bases loaded in the playoffs,” he remembered. “We were facing the best team in our district. I went to a full count with the bases loaded and two outs, and I struck the guy out. That’s when I got my first taste of closing and ever since I have loved it. There is nothing else I’d rather be doing.”

Gearrin has a routine to which he adheres for every game. It begins in the fourth inning when he gets up and begins to stretch.

“I have my mid-game things that I do to get ready, and around the seventh or eighth inning I start getting focused,” he explained. “I think most guys have that pre-game stuff; you have a checklist and you go down it.”

Gearrin throws a fastball, change-up, and slider.

“My change-up is mostly for left-handed batters; I usually throw my fastball and slider,” Gearrin explained. “My slider is my go-to pitch.”

Kulbacki put the icing on the cake for the Kettleers in the ninth inning at Bourne with his first home run of the summer.

“It has been awhile since I had a good feeling like that,” Kulbacki said of his home run that cleared the right field fence. “It was a 0-1 pitch and he threw a fastball away. All night he was spotting the fastball and then coming with the hook. I wasn’t sitting on it, but I was looking for an off-speed pitch and, sure enough, he gave me one. It was good to see that I could still hit a ball that far.”

Kulbacki is no stranger to the long ball, having led the nation in home runs this spring with 24. He also posted the highest slugging percentage in the country (.943). He accumulated a shelf full of awards and recognitions this spring, among them being named National Co-Player of the Year by Collegiate Baseball, named to the Louisville Slugger First Team, and the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year. He was named an All-American, the Player of the Year in Virginia and one of the five finalists for the Dick Howser Award, which is given to the top collegiate baseball player in the country.

“The numbers aren’t the most important thing to me,” he said. “I’m working toward being a solid 5-tool guy and learning more fundamentals things. That’s what will help me become a better player. I just want to have a good summer here; we have a great team.”
Last summer Kulbacki played in the wood bat Clark Griffith League, where he helped the Herndon Braves to the league title, taking home MVP honors.

At the beginning of the week the Kettleers were the best team on the Cape and leading the league in hitting and pitching. Leading Cotuit in hitting was Eric Farris (Loyola Marymount), who made the mid-season turn red hot at the plate.

Farris knows his way around a wood bat, having spent last summer in the Jayhawk League with the El Dorado Broncos, but admits the pitching he has seen this summer has been some of the best.

“There are a lot of hard throwers here with a lot of good stuff,” he said. “Here you have the best of the best. You’re pretty much facing everybody’s number-one guy. I’m just trying to do my best and break as few bats as I can. I struggled a little, and then I got hot, but then struggled again. Now I think I’ve built a little bit of confidence and I’m learning my strengths. It’s simple, really; I’m just trying to hit the ball where they ain’t.”

The Kettleers fell victim to Falmouth Sunday by a score of 2-0 with an outstanding performance on the mound by the Commodores’ David Kopp (Clemson). Falmouth pitching held Cotuit to just two hits, both by Matt Angle (Ohio State), who finished the day 2-for-3.

Saturday was a slugfest for the Kettleers, who pounded out 10 hits and 12 runs in a 12-4 victory over Harwich, aided by eight Mariner errors.
Christian Staehley (Princeton) gave up one run on four hits in five and two-thirds innings to pick up the win. Reece Havens (South Carolina) and Jeff Rea (Mississippi State) each had a couple of hits, with Havens and Gaston each collecting two RBI.

Dave Duncan (Georgia Tech) earned the win Friday at Hyannis in five innings of work. Duncan allowed one run on seven hits and struck out five. Dan DeLucia (Ohio State (and Dan Runzler (UC Riverside) finished it off.

Gaston recorded his first fence-clearing blast of the summer to right field at McKeon Park.

“I got ahead 1-0 and he threw a change-up, and it was up and it hung,” he explained. “I saw it and I went after it and after I hit it, I thought I had just popped it up. By the time I was halfway down the line, I thought it might have a chance to get out, and the guys in the dugout started getting loud. I have to attribute that to what Coach Roberts and I have been working on. That’s the kind of swing that I want to get into—not just for home runs, but for driving the ball.”