page_title: Cotuit Kettleers
section_title: Another pair of championships in the 1990s
hierarchical_section_title: Cotuit Kettleers / History / Modern era (1963–present) / Another pair of championships in the 1990s
caption_attribution_description: Description own work DateSourceI created this work entirely by myself.AuthorOnetwo1 (talk) 01:38, 11 August 2008 . . Onetwo1 . . 1,601×2,580 (516 KB) own work
context_page_description: The Cotuit Kettleers are a collegiate summer baseball team based in the village of Cotuit, Massachusetts, which is in the southwest corner of the town of Barnstable. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League and plays in the league's West Division. The Kettleers play their home games at Lowell Park in Cotuit. The team has been owned and operated by the non-profit Cotuit Athletic Association since 1947.
  The Kettleers most recently won the CCBL championship in 2019 when they defeated the Harwich Mariners two games to none to win the best of three championship series. The title was the team's seventeenth overall, including two separate strings of four consecutive titles. Cotuit's record of fifteen titles in the modern era and seventeen overall is unmatched among CCBL franchises. The team has been led since 2004 by field manager Mike Roberts.
context_section_description: Skipper Roger Bidwell led the Kettleers to a first-place finish atop the West Division in 1992. The team starred CCBL Hall of Famer and Framingham, Massachusetts native Lou Merloni, an infielder from Providence College, who led the league with a .321 batting average and was honored with the league's Sportsmanship Award. Joining Merloni were league MVP Rick Ellstrom, and the CCBL Outstanding Pitcher, John Kelly. The talented '92 squad returned to the league championship series, but was shut down by Chatham.
  First-year manager Mike Coutts led Cotuit to another first-place finish in 1995. His club's unquestioned star was CCBL Hall of Fame catcher/outfielder Josh Paul, who won the league's batting crown with a .364 mark, and slugged .652 on his way to being named both the league MVP and Outstanding Pro Prospect. The team also boasted CCBL Hall of Fame pitcher Jack Cressend, who went 7–1 with a 2.44 ERA for the Kettleers. In the playoff semifinals against Wareham, Cressend had the Kets tied 1–1 going into the final frame of Game 1, but couldn't hold the lead as the Gatemen pushed across two to take the opener, 3–1. Game 2 provided more late-inning drama as Josh Gandy tossed seven scoreless innings and Cotuit won it in the 10th on Brandon Berger's two-run dinger. Cotuit's Ryan Lynch pitched brilliantly in Game 3, and the game was scoreless until the eighth when the Kettleers pushed across the game's only run on a sacrifice fly to win the series. In the finals, Cotuit met East Division champ Chatham, and took Game 1 handily, 16–6. Cressend got touched up for seven runs in Chatham's 9–3 Game 2 win, setting up the Game 3 rubber match at Lowell Park. Coutts sent Gandy to the hill, and the game was tight until the Kettleers erupted for seven runs in the fifth, punctuated by Glenn Davis' three-run bomb. Gandy held the Chatham bats at bay, and Kevin Sheredy came on in relief to get the final five outs and secure the crown for the Kettleers. Gandy and Paul shared playoff MVP honors.
  Coutts' 1996 Kettleers returned hurlers Cressend and Gandy, and both had memorable seasons. Cressend improved on his impressive prior season's marks, going 7–0 with a 1.89 ERA, and Gandy tossed a no-hitter in a 1–0 victory over Wareham.
  Tom Walter took over for Coutts in 1997 and 1998, but Coutts was back in 1999 and led the team to another first-place finish. The '99 team starred CCBL Hall of Famer Garrett Atkins, an all-star infielder who had batted .383 for the Kettleers in 1998, and returned to have another all-star season in 1999. Cotuit met Wareham in the playoff semifinals, and swept the Gatemen in two straight. The Game 2 finale was a masterful 5–0 complete game two-hit shutout by pitcher Andy Warren, with the offensive highlight coming in the third with a three-run blast by Atkins. Cotuit met Chatham in the finals for the third time in the decade, having split the previous two meetings. The teams split the first two games of the 1999 title tilt, setting up a decisive Game 3. The Kettleers sent 6-foot-7 righty Mike Schultz to the hill, and staked him to an early 4–0 lead on an RBI single and homer by Atkins. Schultz made it hold up, tossing a complete game in Cotuit's 7–1 victory. Atkins was named playoff MVP of the Kettleers' 14th championship campaign.
caption: CCBL Hall of Famer Garrett Atkins led Cotuit to the 1999 CCBL title.
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