Hyannis falls to Cotuit 5-3, remains five points behind in West Division standings

By: Jason Boué

All season, the Hyannis Harbor Hawks have seemed superhuman in their ability to come back from any deficit. Walk-offs, crooked numbers, shutdown relief pitching – they can do it all to retake a lead and come out on top. But every hero has its Kryptonite, and Hyannis is no different. It’s just a shame that it comes in the form of the Harbor Hawks’ biggest rivals.

The Cotuit Kettleers (27-12-1) defeated Hyannis (24-14-2) for the fifth time this season, this time to the tune of 5-3. To add insult to injury, this loss put the Harbor Hawks five points out of first place with only four games remaining in the regular season.

After going down 2-0 in the third inning following a Cole Mathis home run, Hyannis began to employ its usual comeback powers. Zach Yorke started it off with a solo shot in the top of the fourth (aided slightly by the wind and the glove of the Cotuit right fielder), bringing the Harbor Hawks within striking distance. Zach Ehrhard was the one to come through and tie the game, bringing around Jon Jon Gazdar with an RBI single in the top of the fifth. The tie wouldn’t last long, however.

With one out in Darin Horn’s fifth inning of work, Sean Keys hit Cotuit’s second homer of the night, this one a three-run bomb to give the Kettleers the lead for good. Hyannis threatened over the next four innings, placing a runner on in each, but it was only able to convert in the seventh. Trey Lipsey crossed the plate while the defense was preoccupied turning a double play, but that was all the Harbor Hawks could muster.

“Two bad pitches” were all that separated the squads tonight according to manager Eric Beattie.

“We thought we played a good game overall,” Beattie said. “They got the bigger hits and we didn’t get the hits when we needed them.”

Despite the same amount of hits as Cotuit (seven) and more base runners (13 compared to the Kettleers’ 10), Hyannis struggled situationally. The Harbor Hawks grounded into four double plays, three of which ended innings to kill any possible momentum.

“The good thing is [that we] were aggressive,” Beattie said. “[We] were up there trying to do damage…  looking for a pitch to hit and hitting it hard… just didn’t hit it hard enough.”

One other bright spot for Hyannis tonight came from a consistent source of them: the bullpen. Ethan Lanthier and newcomer Joe Glassey combined for 3.2 scoreless, one-hit innings, doing all they could to keep the game within reach.

Despite another loss to their rivals, this one with immense playoff implications, the Harbor Hawks will stick to their plan of trying to go 1-0 every day.

“I don’t think there are any huge adjustments we need to make,” Beattie said. “We’re eight and two in our last 10… we just need to keep playing good baseball.”

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: Cam Schuelke (5.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO)

Losing Pitcher: Darin Horn (4.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO)