Kettleers Cannot Keep Up, Commodores Win 4-2

Colleen Loftus/Web Reporter

The Falmouth Commodores took a gradual 4-2 win over the Cotuit Kettleers earlier this evening,  coming out strong after two rainouts. Despite their opponent’s numerous pitchers throughout all nine innings, the Commodores came out swinging and connected well against the Kettleers.

The Commodores reverted to their past habit of taking early leads, as they scored their first run in the top of the first. Conner Hale (Louisiana State) grounded a RBI single to left-center field and scored Kevin Newman (Arizona) from third. The lead was extended to 2-0 in the top of the third, when Newman cracked a RBI single to deep center field. With one out in the inning, Boomer White (Texas A&M) approached the plate, drilled a RBI double, and allowed Newman to reach home. White’s future Texas A&M teammate, Cotuit’s Logan Taylor, hit a solo home run in the later half of the first, tallying the score 3-1 in favor of Falmouth.

Each team tacked on one more run in the later innings of play. Hale recorded his second RBI of the night in the fifth, scoring Newman once again off a RBI single. The score read 4-1 until the bottom of the eighth, when Cotuit sent its second home run out of the park. Ian Rice (Chipola) managed to keep the ball fair along the left line, finalizing the score 4-2.

Falmouth faced seven total Cotuit pitchers, and earned at least one hit in six innings. The Commodores rallied nine hits against the Kettleers. The team appeared unfazed by the constant mound rotation, as Falmouth worked themselves well around the diamond. Newman recorded Falmouth’s two stolen bases of the night, and as a whole the team made three advancements off wild pitches by the Kettleers. Runners on base were also moving quickly off sacrifice pop flies and groundouts, using every opportunity to get themselves into scoring position.

“As a team, we all put in quality at-bats tonight,” said Newman, “our pitching did a great job holding them to two runs, and our offense was good enough to win when we held them.”

The Falmouth defense kept the Cotuit batters at bay, allowing only four hits as a whole. Matt Hollenbeck (Georgetown) made his first start for the Commodores tonight, striking out five total batters. Hollenbeck recorded one strikeout in each of the four innings he pitched.

“Everything felt good,” Hollenbeck commented of his performance, “I was trying to mix my pitches up. I knew I had a pitch count, so I was trying to be as efficient as possible.”

He was relieved by Ryan Moseley (Texas Tech), who was eventually credited with the Commodores’ win. Moseley did not allow any hits, runs, or errors; he struck out two batters swinging. Nick Cooney (Wesleyan) and Kevin Mooney (Maryland) entered the game for the seventh and eighth, each recording one strikeout. Closer Matt Eckelman (St. Louis) earned the save in the ninth, retiring the Kettleers in three batters with one strikeout. The Commodores stuck to their consistent strategy and managed to put confident pitchers on the mound against the pressing Kettleers.

Falmouth now holds a 25-17-2 record, and will host Cotuit on Tuesday, August 5, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit the Falmouth Commodores’ website at www.falmouthcommodores.com.