All quiet on the offensive front as Hyannis loses 8-0 to Cotuit

By: Jason Boué

Tonight was one to forget for the Harbor Hawks (8-7-1) as they ended up on the wrong side of a crooked number. The fact that it happened against their bitter rivals in the Cotuit Kettleers (12-5) only makes it worse.

Cotuit ended up winning 8-0, but the game felt over after a third inning six-spot from the Kettleers that featured a towering grand slam from Cole Mathis.

“[It was] a tough one,” manager Eric Beattie said bluntly. "We got punched in the mouth in the third inning and didn’t really show a lot of fight through the rest of the game.”

Nothing came easy tonight for the Harbor Hawks, especially at the plate. They totaled only three hits and were no-hit into the fifth inning until Alex Lane roped a single to prevent further embarrassment. Only two Harbor Hawks even advanced past first on the night, and it never seemed like scoring was on the table.

Some fans may have been holding out hope for another epic ninth inning comeback like last week’s matchup against the Kettleers, but it wasn’t in the cards tonight. Instead, the bottom of the ninth went swiftly, with the middle of Hyannis’ order going down 1-2-3.

One bright spot for Hyannis on a rough night was the bullpen, as Hiroyuki Yamada and Carter Lovasz combined for six innings of relief, preventing the Harbor Hawks from wasting too many arms in a blowout.

“[Their performance] kind of prevented us from turning one loss into two,” Beattie said. "I needed guys to go get outs… they both did that.”

Yamada ended the night with 2.1 innings of relief, allowing three hits and one run while also getting out of a bases loaded jam. Lovasz then entered in the sixth to close it out, hurling 3.2 innings in which his only blemish was a solo home run to Tanner Thach.

A game like tonight provides some perspective for the team though, because at the end of the day, a loss like this is baseball.

“It’s a 44-game schedule and you’re going to have games like this,” Beattie explained. “We just got to get past it and be ready to play tomorrow… Hopefully [we] come out and play well enough to get a different result.”

Tomorrow’s matchup is no slouch either. The Harbor Hawks will be making the trek to Doran Park, home of the reigning champion Bourne Braves (8-8-1). First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

Jason Boué can usually be found with a backwards hat and a toothpick. You can reach him at jason.boue@icloud.com or follow him on Twitter @JasonBoue

Tonight’s Box Score:

Winning Pitcher: Christopher Kahler (5.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO)

Losing Pitcher: Zachary Voelker (3.0 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO)