The Cotuit Kettleers needed six games and a lot of different heroes, but they’re on their way to the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series.
After beating Falmouth in three games to win their first-round series, the Kettleers rolled past Bourne in game one of the West finals but laid an egg in Sunday’s game two and lost 8-1. Monday, they were back on the horse, using three different rallies plus dominant relief work from Brian Miller (Vanderbilt) to win a classic 4-3 over Bourne.
The Braves led 1-0 and 3-1, but the Kettleers had an answer each time. They tied the game 1-1 in the third inning on an RBI single from Danny Diekroeger (Stanford). After Bourne went ahead 3-1 in the top of the sixth, Cotuit responded again, scoring two in its half of the sixth. Rhett Wiseman (Vanderbilt) and Drew Jackson (Stanford) knocked in the runs with big two-out hits.
Miller, Cotuit’s closer, came on in the seventh and made sure Bourne didn’t take another lead. He pitched the final three innings, striking out four and not allowing a run.
That set the stage, and Cotuit delivered.
Diekroeger doubled with one out in the eighth. Bourne reliever Jack English (Florida Gulf Coast) then struck out Wiseman, his fourth strikeout in just over an inning, for the second out. But Jackson, who was 2-for-19 in the playoffs before Monday, smacked a single and Diekroeger raced around with the go-ahead run.
The Kettleers needed just three more outs, and Miller got them. He worked a two-out single to pitch a scoreless ninth and clinch a championship spot for Cotuit.
It’s the franchise’s first trip to the finals since 2010, when it won the title over Y-D. Orleans awaits in the finals. It’s the first championship series meeting between the teams since 1986.
Game one is slated for today at 4 p.m. at Lowell Park in Cotuit. Orleans hosts game two on Wednesday at 7 p.m. If necessary, game three would be back in Cotuit at 4 p.m. on Thursday.