Month: August 2012

 

Surely this was the end. The magic would not — could not — come back for another encore.

The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox were in control. It was their game. Sure, Wareham tied it, but Y-D jumped right back in front. And then Robert Pehl blasted his second home run of the day. Wareham was trying to keep it close, and here was Pehl, jogging the bases again, pulling his team away with every step. When he reached the plate, his teammates may as well have put a crown on his head. The playoff MVP puts the finishing touch on a championship.

But.

There was always a but with the 2012 Wareham Gatemen. For a long time it was a negative. They can really hit, we said, but their pitching just isn’t there. They mash the ball, but they live and die by the home run.

And then, all of a sudden, the buts started popping up in a different context. Falmouth had its pitching lined up, but Wareham rolled. Bourne took control, but Wareham pushed through.

Most of all — time and again over the last two weeks — it was this: Wareham trailed, but came back. Six times it happened, three at the end of the regular season and three more in the playoffs.

Magic. Somehow, it didn’t run out.

Pehl’s eighth inning home run gave Y-D a 5-2 lead in game three of the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series. Wareham was down to its last three outs. Preston Hatcher had retired six in a row in relief of Alex Gonzalez, who kept the Gatemen at bay with 11 strikeouts. Hatcher would have to go through the middle of Wareham’s order, but on this day, maybe it wouldn’t be quite as tough. That was to be the story, after all. Someone had finally put the clamps on the Gatemen’s big four.

But.

No. 3 hitter Kyle Schwarber stepped in. He was 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. He hadn’t looked good on any of them. Hatcher fell behind 2-0 but worked back to a full count. Schwarber smashed the next pitch over the fence in right-center field. It was 5-3.

There was still a long way to go. Joey DeNato, a Cape League veteran, relieved Hatcher and used two pitches to record the first out. The Red Sox needed just two more.

But.

Daniel Palka chopped the first pitch he saw back up the middle. Mott Hyde stepped in next and fell behind 1-2.

And then he hit a moonshot. It went high and deep and it just kept going, and the higher it went, the louder the crowd got. It landed somewhere in the trees. The game was tied.

Y-D still had life. Bryan Verbitsky came on and got his team out of the inning quickly. The Red Sox then put a runner on in the bottom of the ninth as Sean Dwyer singled.

But.

Colby Suggs, who had given up the home run to Pehl, pitched with new life. He struck out two in the ninth and ended it with a fly-out. In the 10th, Verbitsky struck out the first batter but Ryan Sullivan worked a walk to bring up Schwarber, the rally starter from an inning before.

This time, he did it again, belting a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left-center and giving his team the lead. Before the celebration could even die down, Tyler Horan crushed a home run into the backyard of the house beyond the right field woods. Wareham led 8-5.

Suggs came out for the bottom of the 10th and struck out the first batter. Carlos Asuaje followed with a solo home run, making it a two-run game, but there would be no more. Two straight flyouts to Cole Sturgeon ended the game and touched off a wild celebration. It was Wareham’s first championship since 2002, and the Gatemen reveled in it.

It will take people a while to wrap their heads around this. Some players have already left. They’ll drive through the night, wondering what just happened.

We can say right now that it was classic. It was crazy. It was Y-D’s game, but then it wasn’t.

It was Wareham’s championship.

July 13. That was the last time the Wareham Gatemen were held to less than two runs in a game. It only happened four times all year.

Thursday night, on the biggest stage, Y-D made it happen again — and kept its season alive in the process.

Aaron Blair (Marshall) struck out 10 in seven shutout innings and Rick Knapp (Florida Gulf Coast) twice worked out of trouble to seal the deal as the Red Sox beat the Gatemen 5-1 to tie the Cape League championship series at one game apiece. The decisive game three is set for today at 4 p.m. at Red Wilson Field.

I made the drive over to Wareham expecting to see a championship clincher. The Gatemen have found a way to win time and again over the last two weeks. It seemed like a 10th straight win — and a title — were in the offing.

The only big reason to think otherwise was Blair, Y-D’s ace who was held out of action for the last few weeks of the season in order to save his arm for the playoffs. He came back with five strong innings in Y-D’s first-round series.

But this — this is what the Red Sox saved him for.

Blair took a no-hitter into the sixth inning. Wareham had a baserunner in each of the first four innings but could do nothing with them. Blair struck out eight of the first 16 batters he faced. In the first and second innings, he fanned the powerful middle of Wareham’s order right in a row.

And while Blair was in control, so was his team. While Barrett Astin (Arkansas) gave the Gatemen a terrific start, Y-D did just enough to beat him. The Red Sox jumped on top 1-0 in the second on a single by Zak Blair (Mercyhurst) and an RBI double by Alex Blandino (Stanford). In the fifth, the Red Sox made it 2-0 thanks to an RBI groundout by Carlos Asuaje (Nova Southeastern).

Wareham finally broke up Blair’s no-hit bid in the sixth as Ryan Sullivan (Seton Hall) smacked a double to deep right-center. When Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) followed with a walk, the no-hitter seemed like ancient history. Suddenly, the Gatemen were threatening.

The single and the walk made the sixth Blair’s worst inning of the night in terms of what he gave up, but what he did in response may have made it his best. Blair got CCBL home run king Tyler Horan (Virginia Tech) to hit into a force-out at second. He then struck out Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) for the third time, getting this one on a 3-2 pitch. He finished the inning by inducing a ground ball from Mott Hyde (Georgia Tech).

Blair came back out for the seventh and got into a bit of trouble again thanks to a two-out error and a single. But he got Sullivan to fly out to end the inning. The Red Sox then added some insurance with three runs in the eighth, including two on a squeeze bunt from Justin Shafer (Florida) and an ensuing throwing error.

Knapp relieved Blair in the bottom of the eighth, and it looked like the Gatemen might find some playoff magic for a second straight night. Schwarber reached on an infield hit, Horan singled and Palka lined a base hit into center to load the bases with nobody out.

But just as Blair had done, Knapp buckled down. Hyde hit a ground ball to short and Y-D conceded the run for a force-out. Ty Ross (LSU) then popped out, before Knapp struck out Dustin DeMuth (Indiana) to end the inning.

Wareham put one last rally together in the ninth, getting a double from Cole Sturgeon (Louisville). Sullivan then reached on an error, bringing up the middle of the order. But Knapp struck out Schwarber and got Horan to ground out.

That was that. Wareham lost for the first time in 13 days.

And Y-D stayed very much alive.

Game 3

Alex Gonzalez (Oral Roberts) is listed as the probable starter for the Red Sox, which should again give them the edge in that department. Gonzalez went 6.2 scoreless innings in a playoff win over Orleans.

Wareham has not announced a starter.

The Wareham Gatemen have trailed at some point in their last three playoff games.

It hasn’t mattered.

After using a pair of late rallies to beat Bourne in the West finals, Wareham opened the 2012 Cape Cod Baseball League championship on Wednesday with more heroics. Trailing 4-2, the Gatemen scored single runs in each of the final three innings on their way to a 5-4 victory over Y-D and a 1-0 series lead. Ty Ross (LSU) hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth to cap the comeback.

Wareham has now won nine games in a row going back to the regular season, and the flair for the dramatic has been there all along. In three of the four straight wins to end the regular season, Wareham scored the decisive runs in the seventh inning or later. Now, it’s happened three more times in the playoffs.

Watching the game online yesterday, it was hard to envision a late comeback the way things were going early on. Y-D starter Andrew Thurman (UC Irvine), who had struggled a bit in a playoff start against Chatham, looked like the Andrew Thurman who turned in a complete game shutout, one of the great performances of the summer, on July 22. This time, Thurman dominated in the early going. He struck out the side three times and ended up with 12 Ks in seven innings. In the meantime, Y-D took a 4-1 lead.

But the Gatemen hung around. Starter Kendall Graveman (Mississippi State) gave up three runs in the second and one in the third but then settled in and gave his team a chance. He ended up going seven innings, and he didn’t allow a run after the third.

And his team seized the chance. The Gatemen managed to touch up Thurman for single runs in the third and fourth innings on an RBI single by Cole Sturgeon (Louisville) and a solo home run by Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech), making it 4-2. Then in the seventh, Mott Hyde (Georgia Tech) walked, stole second and scored on a base hit by Ross, cutting the lead to one. In the eighth, with Thurman out of the game, the Gatemen kept coming. Palka grounded out with the bases loaded to score the tying run.

In the ninth, Ross led off and took a 1-1 pitch from Joey DeNato (Indiana) out of the park for the 5-4 lead.

Wareham’s bullpen, which has been a strength throughout the winning streak, then flexed its muscle again. Colby Suggs (Arkansas) worked around a walk to strike out the side in the bottom of the ninth.

Just like that, the Gatemen — in a game that didn’t seem like theirs — had found a way.

Game 2

It should be a great one in Wareham tonight. The Gatemen will be going for the championship, but they’ll have to get through Cape League ERA champ Aaron Blair (Marshall), who gets the ball for the Red Sox. Barrett Astin (Arkansas), who had an ERA over six in the regular season, gets the nod for the Gatemen.

Game time is 7 p.m.

And then there were two.

The hottest teams in the Cape League playoffs didn’t cool down at all last night, and now they’ll meet each other for the 2012 Cape Cod Baseball League championship. Y-D and Wareham, both No. 2 seeds, finished off their second sweeps of the playoffs last night. Y-D rolled over Orleans 9-0 while Wareham won a back-and-forth game over Bourne 8-6.

The teams will now jump right into the championship series, with Y-D hosting Wareham today at 4 p.m.

Something will have to give because both of these teams are clicking.

After a 10-3 victory in game one, the Red Sox kept the pedal down and never let Orleans breathe in the 9-0 victory last night. They scored four runs in the second inning, delivered their fourth straight double-digit hit total and cruised to the win. Andrew Bowen (Oral Roberts), who had started only one game all year, came up big on the mound. He went six shutout innings, striking out eight and allowing just four hits. Brian Gilbert (Seton Hall) and Preston Hatcher (Western Carolina) didn’t allow a hit over the final three innings to finish it off.

Offensively, Alex Blandino (Stanford) hit two home runs and drove in four while Justin Shafer (Florida) had two RBI.

Over in Bourne, Wareham had a bit more trouble with the upset-minded Braves but found a way to win. Wareham led 6-4 going into the eighth when Bourne tied it on an L.J. Mazzilli (UConn) two-run single. But in the top of the ninth, Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) worked a walk and Mott Hyde (Georgia Tech) belted a two-run home run off Hawtin Buchanan (Ole Miss), who had allowed just one home run in the regular season.

Now pitching with the lead, Colby Suggs (Arkansas) gave up a leadoff double to Trent Gilbert (Arizona) but struck out the next two batters and got a groundout to end the game.

Offensively, Wareham was led by Hyde, who went 3-for-4 with the home run, a triple and four RBI. Tyler Horan (Virginia Tech) also homered, while Dustin DeMuth (Georgia Tech) and Palka drove in runs.

Championship Notes

The championship series will be a rematch of the 2006 title series between Y-D and Wareham. Y-D won that match-up for the first of its two consecutive crowns. That was also Wareham’s last appearance in the championship. Y-D has been back twice since then.

Andrew Thurman is scheduled to get the ball for Y-D against Kendall Graveman. Both those guys started the first playoff games for their teams, with Thurman giving up four runs in five innings but getting the win against Chatham. Graveman gave up just one run in 6.2 innings against Falmouth.

Y-D and Wareham have been the top two hitting teams in the playoffs. The Red Sox have a .324 average while Wareham is at .322. Wareham has scored the most runs with 40, while Y-D has totaled 33. Interestingly, they also have the best ERAs, with Y-D at 2.25 and Wareham at 2.50.

Y-D swept the season series 4-0, and three of the wins were lopsided. The 8-5 game on August 2 was the closest.

It’ll be a little bit of a youth vs. experience match-up. Y-D’s lineup typically features five freshmen, including mainstays Sam Travis and Robert Pehl. Wareham usually has just one freshman starting and its lineup has three two-year Cape Leaguers, as well as veteran Tyler Horan.

Prediction: Y-D was very impressive in its East finals sweep, but Wareham just has that hot playoff team feel. I’ll go with the Gatemen in three.

Entering the Cape League playoffs, nobody had won more games in a row than the Wareham Gatemen, whose four-game streak to close the season vaulted into the No. 2 seed.

And the Gatemen still haven’t lost.

After falling behind 3-2 in the sixth inning against No. 4 Bourne, the Gatemen clawed back with three in the eighth on their way to a 5-3 victory in game one of the Western Division finals. Wareham is now one win away from its first Cape League championship series appearance since 2006.

Bourne has played the underdog role very well in these playoffs, knocking off Cotuit in the first round, and it looked like the Braves had some more magic when they scored three runs in the top of the sixth last night to take the lead. To that point, Wareham starter Brad Kuntz (Baylor) hadn’t allowed a run, but two errors opened the door for three to score.

But Wareham quickly erased those troubles. Singles by Ethan Gross (Memphis) and Cole Sturgeon (Louisville) started the rally, and Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) tied the game with a sacrifice fly. Tyler Horan (Virginia Tech) followed with a two-run single, and the Gatemen were back in business.

In the ninth, Colby Suggs (Arkansas) took over after perfect frames from Nick Rumbelow (LSU) and Jonathan Holder (Mississippi State), and Suggs followed suit. He struck out the side on 10 pitches to seal the deal for the Gatemen.

Another Streak

Y-D wasn’t hot coming into the playoffs. The Red Sox had lost two in a row.

But they’re hot now.

After sweeping Chatham in the first round, Y-D opened the Eastern Division finals with a 10-3 victory over Orleans. The Red Sox jumped to a 2-0 lead in the third, blew the game open with eight runs in the sixth and put the clamps on a late Orleans rally to take the one-game lead.

Carlos Asuaje (Nova Southeastern), who’s now hitting .692 in the playoffs, went 2-for-4 with two RBI, and Alex Blandino (Stanford) also had two hits and two RBI. Justin Shafer (Florida) drove in two, while Sam Travis (Indiana) had two hits. The Red Sox have now had double-digit hits in every playoff game.

The pitching was there too last night. Alex Gonzalez (Oral Roberts) struck out eight and gave up just two hits in 6.2 scoreless innings. Jonny Hoffman (Indiana) followed with 1.1 innings before Orleans got to Spenser Linney (Stanford) for three runs in the ninth. But Linney eventually finished the job.

Cody Kulp (Shippensburg) and Kevin Brown (Bryant) hit home runs for Orleans, but those were two of just four hits.

What to Watch

Y-D visits Orleans at 7 p.m., while Wareham travels to Bourne for an 8 p.m. start. We could have a championship match-up by the end of tonight.

Anything can happen in the Cape League playoffs. I still didn’t think this would happen.

Bourne knocked out Cotuit with a 6-4 win in game three of their division semifinals yesterday. Bourne came into the postseason with the worst record among all the playoff teams. Cotuit had the best record in the league.

But it’s the Braves who are moving on.

The Kettleers, who have been relying heavily on their bullpen all year, actually got a very strong start this time. Dusty Isaacs (Georgia Tech) allowed one run and struck out six in seven innings, while his team scored a run in the second inning and carried a lead into the seventh. But when Isaacs departed, the Braves touched up the Cotuit bullpen for five runs in the final two innings.

It wasn’t the first time — in the game-one victory, the Kettleers scored seven runs off the Cotuit pen.

L.J. Mazzilli (UConn), who’s proving to be a huge late-season pick-up, hit his second home run of the playoffs, while Trent Gilbert (Arizona) went 3-for-4 with an RBI. Connor David (UConn), another late pick-up, went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Bourne’s pitching struggled in the regular season, but Chad Green never let cotuit pull away yesterday. He allowed just the one run in six innings, while striking out six. Patrick Young (Villanova) got the win in relief, and John Farrell (William & Mary) picked up the save.

Tony Kemp (Vanderbilt) hit a home run to lead Cotuit, but it wasn’t quite enough.

The Braves are moving on, thanks to one of the biggest upsets in Cape League history.

What to Watch

Division championships get underway today, with No. 4 Orleans visiting No. 2 Y-D at 4 p.m. West No. 4 Bourne heads to No. 2 Wareham for a 7 p.m. start.

The most powerful team in Cape Cod Baseball League history scored two runs in two playoff games and won’t play anymore. A team that has started to look just as powerful hit six home runs and scored 27 runs in two games against perhaps the best starting pitching rotation in the postseason.

What was that about an encore? If the first two days of the playoffs are an indication, the 2012 postseason may be just as wild as the 2012 season.

Orleans swept out No. 1 Harwich in the East with a second straight shut-down performance. And in the West, after winning 7-1 on Thursday, No. 2 Wareham pummeled No. 3 Falmouth 20-7 to sweep that series. In other action, Y-D also swept, beating Chatham 7-4. West No. 1 Cotuit was the lone team to force a game three, as the Kettleers beat Bourne 4-2.

I fully expected both top seeds — Cotuit and Harwich — to come back after game-one losses, but the defending champion Mariners saw their quest for a second straight title fall by the wayside quickly. The best home run hitting team in Cape League history won’t win the championship. Interestingly, the team Harwich passed in the record books — 1981 Orleans — didn’t win either, falling in the finals to Cotuit.

The 2012 Orleans squad made sure the Mariners didn’t even get that far. Losers of five straight to end the season, Orleans picked a good time to win two in a row. After winning 3-1 in game one, the Firebirds cruised to a 6-1 victory in game two. They took a 2-1 lead in the fourth and added to it late.

Not that it was easy. Orleans starter Jarrett Arakawa (Hawaii) left with an injury after an inning. It was fitting for this group, which has been decimated by injuries in recent weeks.

But the Firebirds responded. Philip Pfeifer (Vanderbilt), who had a 5.95 ERA in the regular season, relieved Arakawa and pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit baseball. He struck out three. Kyle Crockett (Virginia) then came on in the eighth and worked two more scoreless frames to finish it off.

Derek Toadvine (Kent State) and Angelo LaBruna (Duke) each had two hits and two RBI to lead the offense. Jake Hernandez (USC) and Pi’ikea Kitamura (Hawaii) also drove in runs.

For Harwich, there was just nothing doing. A.J. Reed (Kentucky) gave up two runs in six innings, but the run support wasn’t there. Harwich didn’t hit a home run in the postseason and managed just nine total hits.

Gatemen surge

I liked Falmouth to win its first-round series because of its pitching. The Commodores would trot out Trey Masek, who had some great moments this summer, and Sean Hagan, who almost pitched a no-hitter in late July.

Wareham greeted both of them with a lot of offense.

After the 7-1 win in game one, the Gatemen exploded for a 20-7 victory last night. They had 18 hits and six home runs, two of which were grand slams. The 20 runs is the most scored in the playoffs since Y-D tallied 23 in 2010.

Wareham scored three runs in the first inning and nothing in the next three before breaking the game wide open with 17 runs in the final five innings. Ethan Gross (Memphis) led the way with two home runs, including one of the grand slams, and six RBI. Tyler Ross (LSU) had the other grand slam. Daniel Palka (Georgia Tech) hit a home run and drove in five, while Cole Sturgeon (Louisville) and Dustin DeMuth (Indiana) also homered.

Barrett Astin (Arkansas) got the win after giving up five runs in 5.1 innings.

Elsewhere

Y-D continued hitting well and got a solid start from Aaron Blair (Marshall) to finish off the sweep of Chatham with a 7-4 win. Carlos Asuaje (Nova Southeastern) went 4-for-5 with a home run and three RBI, while Zak Blair (Mercyhurst), Alex Blandino (Stanford) and Morgan Mickan (Texas State) all drove in a run apiece. Blair, making his first start since July 20, gave up three runs — one earned — in five innings. Rick Knapp (Florida Gulf Coast) pitched well in relief and Bryan Verbitsky (Hofstra) got the save. Louie Lechich (San Diego) hit a home run for Chatham and Adam Engel (Louisville) had two hits and two RBI, but it wasn’t enough.

Cotuit was back to its old self after a surprising loss in game one. The Kettleers got solid pitching work, especially from the bullpen, and scored enough to get the victory. Kyle Finnegan (Texas State) pitched well for 3.2 innings, before Jordan Ramsey (UNC Wilmington) went 3.1 scoreless frames. Dan Slania (Notre Dame) then struck out five of the eight batters he faced in two scoreless innings to finish out the win. At the plate, Mike Ford (Princeton) homered and Jacob Valdez (San Jose State) went 3-for-4 with an RBI.

What to Watch

Bourne visits Cotuit at 4 p.m. for the deciding game of their first-round series.

I didn’t think about this before I did the preview, but it occurred to me last night. On paper, the West series between Cotuit and Bourne may well be the most lopsided playoff match-up in Cape Cod Baseball League history. Cotuit had 30 wins in the regular season. Bourne had 17. There’s never been a bigger difference in the two years since the league switched to an eight-team format. To my knowledge, the league had never done eight teams before these last two years, and it’s hard to imagine such a big gap in the old format, when just the first and second place teams.

So it might be the biggest gap. Somebody forgot to tell the Bourne Braves.

Bourne shocked the top-seeded Kettleers 12-7 in game one of their best-of-three series last night. It was just the fifth loss in the last 27 games for the Kettleers, who finished with the best record in the league.

The Braves scored six runs in the first two innings and chased starter Adam McCreery (Arizona State) after just 1.1 innings. Cotuit came back with a vengeance, though, and put up seven runs in the second inning.

It looked like the Kettleers might be in business. Their great bullpen would take over and they’ve be on their way.

Instead, the Bourne bullpen took over.

John Farrell (William & Mary) struck out seven and gave up just three hits in 4.1 scoreless innings. Tim Giel (Columbia) followed with three shutout innings, striking out four.

Meanwhile, Bourne pulled off a rare feat — the Braves scored regularly against the Cotuit pen. Three pitchers, including Ryan Connolly (Coastal Carolina), gave up at least two runs as the Braves pulled away.

L.J. Mazzilli (UConn) had a huge day, going 4-for-6 with a home run and six RBI. Joe Jackson (The Citadel) also homered, while Jack Reinheimer (East Carolina) went 4-for-6 with two RBI.

The 12 runs are the second-most Bourne has scored all season, and they couldn’t have come at a better time. The Braves will head home today with a chance to clinch a huge playoff upset.

Elsewhere

There was also an upset in the East, where fourth-seeded Orleans flexed its pitching muscles and topped No. 1 Harwich 3-1. Matt Boyd (Oregon State) struck out 11 and gave up just a run on three hits in seven innings. Kyle Crockett (Virginia) then closed the deal with two scoreless frames. He struck out five of the eight batters he faced. On the other side, Harwich starter Corey Littrell (Kentucky) was solid, and Clark Labitan (Virginia Tech) pitched great out of the bullpen, but Orleans found just enough offense with three runs in the second inning. Angelo LaBruna (Duke) knocked in two of the runs with a triple before trotting home himself on a wild pitch. The win was the Firebirds’ first over Harwich since the fourth game of the season.

The other two series both held form, starting with Y-D posting a 7-4 victory over Chatham. The game was tied at 4-4 in the fourth, but the Red Sox scored a run in the bottom of the inning and two in the seventh to pull away. After starter Andrew Thurman (UC Irvine) gave up four runs in five innings, Joey DeNato (Indiana) slammed the door with four scoreless frames. He struck out four and gave up just two hits. Robert Pehl (Washington) went 2-for-3 with a home run to lead the offense, and Justin Shafer (Florida) also homered. Carlos Asuaje (Nova Southeastern) went 3-for-4. Louie Lechich (San Diego) and John Hennessey (Boston College) homered for the Anglers, but it wasn’t enough.

Wareham got to Falmouth stand-out Trey Masek (Texas Tech) early on and got a great performance on the mound from Kendall Graveman (Mississippi State) to beat the Commodores 7-1. Tyler Horan (Virginia Tech) went 3-for-3 with two RBI and Ty Ross (LSU) also drove in two. Armed with a lead from the get-go, Graveman scattered eight hits and gave up just a run in 6.2 innings. Nick Rumbelow (LSU) struck out every batter he faced in 1.1 dominant innings of relief, and Colby Suggs (Arkansas) finished the job with a scoreless ninth. Going back to the regular season, Wareham has now won five games in a row.

What to Watch

As No. 4 seeds Bourne and Orleans go for upsets, they’ll both send good pitchers to the hill. Bourne’s Jeff Thompson (Louisville) has turned in two good starts in a row, including a six-inning no-hitter. Orleans’ Jarrett Arakawa (Hawaii) took a no-hitter into the fifth and finished with eight strong innings in his last start.