Posted in: Sports

    Runs were very difficult to come by last night at the Arnie Allen Diamond at Guv Fuller Field. They were so tough to get that it took the Falmouth Commodores and Cotuit Kettleers overtime to settle things.

    Falmouth finally picked up the win in the bottom of the 12th inning to win a 2-1 affair. The win improves the Commodores’ record to 20-18 on the season as they stayed four points ahead of the Hyannis Mets in the standings. The hard-charging Mets (17-18-2) were 7-2 winners against Harwich last night.

    A ground ball with eyes off the bat of center fielder Chris Hopkins (Oregon State) finally brought the ballgame to its conclusion in the 12th inning. Hopkins grounded one just past the dive of Cotuit shortstop Reese Havens (South Carolina) that plated Jeremy Farrell (Virginia) from second base with the winning run. Farrell led off the final frame with a base on balls against Kettleers’ reliever Matt Wright (Shippenburg) and then went to second on a sac bunt by Kevin Dubler (Illinois State). That set the stage for Hopkins, who fell behind, but found a way to muscle an inside pitch up the middle to win the ballgame.

    Hopkins said that he saw the 2-2 pitch, a curveball, that he hit up the middle the whole way, although he admitted that he didn’t know if it would get by the dive of Havens. “I’ll take it,” Hopkins said. “We want to play postseason baseball and you’ve got to win games like this.”

    Falmouth skipper Jeff Trundy said that his team has had a hard time pushing runs across the plate of late, but he liked the way his team competed and found a way to get the job done. 

    “Jeremy (Farrell) fought off a couple of tough pitches to get that walk and then (Kevin) Dubler did a nice job to get down the sacrifice … and then Hoppy had a tough call on strike two, but he hung in there and competed and got the winning hit,” Trundy said. “We feel fortunate to get out of here with a win, but we’ll take it.”

    All-Star game starter Aaron Crow worked six strong innings for the Commodores last night, but did not factor in the decision. Crow, who was named the MVP for the west stars on Saturday, was his usual commanding self against the Kettleers, working six innings. He gave up just one earned run on one hit, needing just 67 pitches.

    Cotuit’s Chris Fetter (Michigan) was even better than his high profile counterpart. Fetters went seven for the visitors and did not surrender a run in the game, allowing just two hits with eight strikeouts and just one base on balls. 

    The Falmouth offense finally got on the board in the eighth inning, knotting things up at 1-1 with a little two-out magic. The first two batters in the frame both were set down before Kevin Dubler stepped to the dish and worked a walk against reliever Josh Lindblom (Purdue). The rally then was extended when Chris Hopkins dropped a blooper into right field, just in front of the fielder, for the Commodores’ first hit in several innings, putting runners on first and second for shortstop Joey Wong (Oregon State).

    Wong has shown a knack for coming up with some big hits for the team in the past this season and did so once again in a very big spot. The slick fielding infielder got a knee-high fastball on the outer half of the plate and laced it into left field to score Dubler from second with the tying run.

    Cotuit had taken a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth against Crow thanks to the team’s first base hit of the game, which came off the bat of Havens. A leadoff walk ultimately scored as Crow gave a pass to Caleb Joseph (Lipscomb), who then went to second on a sac bunt by Jon Pigott (Florida). 

    Crow then had a meeting with his pitching coach Matt Ranson to discuss how to handle Havens. The Cotuit shortstop jumped all over Crow’s first pitch, as he sat on a fastball and got it, lining the ball into right to put the visitors on top, 1-0. 

    The same two teams are back in action today, at 5 PM, at Lowell Park in Cotuit.