Daily Fog: Going Deep

Owen Diodati appears to be getting back on track this summer. 

After an uneven second year at Alabama, Diodati is off to a great start with Wareham. On Friday, he hit his third home run in four games to lead the Gatemen over Orleans 4-2. 

Highly touted out of high school in Canada, Diodati was in line for a huge freshman season when the 2020 college baseball season was cut short. He hit five home runs in just 17 games. 

This year ended up being a bit of a detour. Diodati hit 11 home runs but encountered some rough patches and finished with a .230 batting average. He finished the season in an 11-game homerless drought. 

In his first Cape League at-bat, Diodati reached on an error but hasn’t needed much help since. He homered in his second at-bat, a two-run shot against Cotuit. On Wednesday, he went 3-for-4 with a three-run bomb. And on Friday, he went 2-for-4 again, with his solo shot in the first inning help stake the Gatemen to the lead. 

Diodati is hitting .375 with a league-best three home runs. He’s tied for the league lead in RBI with eight, having driven in almost half of Wareham’s total runs on the season. 

Friday’s win was the second straight for the Gatemen, putting them at 2-2. Cade Fergus (George Washington) and Jimmy Crooks (Oklahoma) also went deep in the win. Kade Kern (Ohio State) went 2-for-4 and stole two bases. 

Wareham’s pitching was solid as well. Jonathan Brand (Miami Ohio) didn’t allow a hit in four innings of work. Matt Svanson (Lehigh) struck out six in four scoreless innings and Devereaux Harrison (Long Beach) worked out of trouble in the ninth for the save. 

Orleans is also 2-2 after the loss. Jordan Sprinkle stole two bases, but the Firebirds were held to just four hits. 

Bourne 4, Harwich 1

The Braves stayed unbeaten with a 4-1 victory over Hawich, moving to 4-0 on the season. Hunter Omlid (Central Arizona) allowed one run in three innings, while three relievers combined for six shutout innings. Mike Sansone (Fairfield), who had a big hand in Fairfield’s historic spring, got the win with three Ks in four scoreless innings. Eric Adler (Wake Forest) recorded his second save. Joe Lampe (Arizona State) and Christian Knapczyk (Louisville) both went 2-for-4 to lead the Bourne offense. Harwich fell to 1-3 with the loss. 

Cotuit 16, Y-D 5

Cotuit scored more runs Friday than it had scored all season in a blowout of Y-D. Luke Gold (Boston College) led the onslaught, hitting his second and third home runs as part of a 3-for-5, six RBI night. Brett Roberts (Florida State) wasn’t far behind Gold’s pace, going 3-for-4 with a home run and five RBI. Dylan Beavers (Cal), who has hit safely in every game this summer, had two htis and three RBI. Cole Cummings (UC Santa Barbara) chipped in three hits. Jake Brooks (UCLA) was the recipient of all the offense, earning the win with 3.2 scoreless innings of relief. 

Brewster 5, Chatham 2

The Whitecaps are in the win column after a victory over Chatham. Brain Fitzpatrick (Rutgers) struck out seven and allowed two runs in 3.1 innings, before giving way to a dominant bullpen effort. Ryan Cardona (Marist), Dale Stanavich (Rutgers) and Hunter Patteson (Central Florida) combined on 5.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. Nick Biddison (Virginia Tech) had two hits and an RBI. Jake Thompson (OKklahoma State) and Zach Neto (Campbell) knocked in one run each. The Whitecaps stole four bases, led as always by Colin Davis (Wofford), who stole his fourth and fifth bases of the season. For Chatham, which fell to 2-2-1, Caden Grice (Clemson) stayed hot with two hits. 

Falmouth 4, Hyannis 3

Falmouth broke a 2-2 tie with two runs in the eighth and held off Hyannis in the ninth. Brayden Taylor (TCU) scored the go-ahead run before Alec Sayre (Wright State) drove in what proved to be a crucial insurance run. Taylor went 3-for-5 for his third multi-hit game of the summer.  Jake Dukart (Oregon State) added three hits and Jonathan French (Clemson) homered in a two-hit night. Anthony DeFabbia (Stetson) struck out four in four scoreless innings. Michael Esposito (South Carolina) issued three walks in the ninth but escaped with Hyannis putting just one run on the board. 

WHAT TO WATCH

The two hottest teams in the league square off at Doran Park. Bourne is unbeaten at 4-0 and Wareham has won two straight.  

Daily Fog: Staff Day

Twelve different pitchers have taken the mound for Orleans in three games this season. It was another team effort Thursday and it worked. Six pitchers combined to hold down Orleans in a 6-4 victory at Eldredge Park, the only game of the day. 

Chase DeLauter (James Madison), who had made a bigger impact so far with his bat, flashed the other side of his two-way skill set by drawing the start and tossing a scoreless inning. Conner Thurman (San Diego), off a season in which he led San Diego in strikeouts, had the best showing on the staff with three innings of one-hit, shutout baseball. He struck out four. 

Cotuit did some damage off Jeffrey Praml (Southern New Hampshire), scoring three runs, but managed just one more run off the next three arms. Carter Smith (BYU) pitched his second scoreless outing of the young season, Nick Hull (Grand Canyon) allowed one run in 1.1 innings. 

Jake Saum (UCLA) struck out three and didn’t allow a hit in finishing off the win. 

The pitchers were backed by a four-run third inning and key insurance in the late innings. DeLauter finished with two RBI, giving him five on the season. Rhylan Thomas (USC), Tyler Locklear (VCU) and Connor Kokx (Long Beach) went 2-for-4 with one RBI. 

The win puts Orleans at 2-1, while Cotuit drops to 1-2. 

WHAT TO WATCH

Back to a full slate Friday night. Interesting story to watch for Cotuit. Ryan Long gets the start. He pitches at D-III Pomona-Pitzer, which did not have a 2021 season. Long had a solid showing in the West Coast League two summers ago. 

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Daily Fog: Hitting and Winning

Two of the hottest starts in the league have been delivered by Harwich players, and their Mariners finally had something to show for it on Wednesday. 

Brock Wilken (Wake Forest) and Cade Beloso (LSU) had two hits each as Harwich picked up its first win of the season 5-2 over Hyannis. 

Wilken is a coming off a slugging season with the Demon Deacons. He smacked 17 home runs to go with a .279 batting average. The 6-foot-4, 225-pounder started the summer with two hits in the season opener. He followed it up with a 1-for-3 day on Monday. In powering Wednesday’s win, he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI. 

Beloso had less success to build on, having hit .226 for the Tigers in the spring. Just like his teammate Wilken, Beloso had two hits in the opener and one in game two. Last night, he went 2-for-3 with a double. 

Beloso has the top batting average in the league at .556. Wilken is at .500, one of several players tied with that mark. 

Harwich also got two RBI from Josh Hood (Penn). 

Harwich had lost two straight to open the season. The five runs are a season-high, but pitching also had a lot to do with the win. Billy Seidl (Duke) struck out five and didn’t allow an earned run in four innings of work. Trey Dombroski (Monmouth), Carson Seymour (Kansas State) and Aaron Holiday (Old Dominion) combined for five scoreless innings out of the bullpen. 

Bourne 13, Falmouth 8

Central Michigan standout Andrew Taylor was fantastic in his Cape League debut and his offense was pretty good, too as Bourne outlasted Falmouth. Coming off an All-American campaign, Taylor struck out eight and allowed just two hits in four scoreless innings. He left with a 6-0 lead that almost completely disappeared when the bullpen took over. But Bourne’s offense kept rolling throughout and continued adding to the lead, finishing with 16 hits. Nick Goodwin (Kansas State) went 4-for-5 with a homer two RBI, while Christian Knapczyk (Louisville) went 3-for-5 and drove in two. Six different Braves had at least two hits. Reggie Crawford (Uconn) and Zach Agnos (East Carolina) also went deep. Michael Curialle (UCLA) continued a hot start for Falmouth with a grand slam. Bourne is now 3-0. 

Chatham 4, Brewster 2

Chatham built an early 4-0 lead and held on down the stretch for a win over Brewster. Caden Grice (Clemson) hit his second home run and leadoff man Cameron Chick (Nebraska) also went deep. Matthew Garcia (Chipola) drove in the other run for the Anglers. On the mound, Sebastian Keane (Northeastern) and Alexander McFarlane (Miami) went three scoreless innings each. Zachary Maxwell (Georgia Tech) allowed one run in two innings but eventually stopped Brewster’s comeback efforts for the save. Angler pitchers racked up 12 Ks. Chatham is 2-1 while Brewster is still seeking its first win. 

Wareham 7, Y-D 1

Owen Diodati (Alabama) homered for the second time in three games to lead Wareham’s best offensive night of the season and its first win. Kade Kern (Ohio State) drove in three runs. Ian Villers (California) tossed four scoreless innings and the Gatemen took a shutout into the ninth, when Y-D finally got on the board. The Gatemen improved to 1-2 while Y-D went to 2-1. 

WHAT TO WATCH

Just one game on the schedule Thursday as Cotuit makes the trip to Orleans. Harrison Cohen starts for Cotuit following a strong season with George Washington. Conner Thurman, who led San Diego in strikeouts, gets the ball for the Firebirds. 

Daily Fog: Quiet Bats

Rain made for a quiet third day of the season in the Cape League, with one game canceled and three others getting underway but falling short of being official. They won’t be completed or rescheduled. 

In the one game that did go final, it was a pitcher keeping things quiet. 

Y-D’s Nick Dombkowski (Hartford) was terrific in a 3-2 win over Chatham, allowing just an unearned run in six innings. Chatham had three pitchers deliver strong performances but ended up on the wrong end of the pitchers’ duel. 

Dombkowski was in the news about a month ago when he threw a no-hitter amid the controversy around Hartford’s decision to drop from Division I to Division III. It was part of a great season for Dombkowski, who had a 3.13 ERA and 72 Ks in 60.1 innings on his way to all-conference honors.

Two summers ago, Dombkowski played in the Cape League for Bourne and was solid, putting up a 2.47 ERA. He’s eligible for this year’s draft but is on the Cape for now with Y-D and delivering. He scattered six hits on Tuesday while striking out five and allowing no earned runs. 

Jaret Godman (Oklahoma) finished off the win with 2.1 good innings of relief. 

The Y-D offense was led by Briley Knight (Portland), who drove in all three Y-D runs with one swing of the bat, a bases-loaded double in the second inning. 

Chatham’s Aaron Davenport (Hawaii) allowed those three runs and nothing else. Adam Tulloch (West Virginia) and Cade Winquest (Texas-Arlington) didn’t allow a run out of the bullpen. Jake DeLeo (Georgia Tech) went 3-for-4 to lead the Chatham offense and is now hitting .500 through three games. 

Y-D is now 2-0-1, while Chatham drops to 1-1-1. 

WHAT TO WATCH

All-American pitcher Andrew Taylor (Central Michigan) is due to make his first CCBL start for Bourne as the Braves visit Falmouth. Taylor struck out a school record 125 in the spring. 

Daily Fog: Reggie and the Braves

Reggie Crawford did a little bit of everything for the Bourne Braves on Monday night.

Just like his team has done. 

A young two-way standout at UConn, Crawford went 3-for-5 at the plate and pitched a scoreless inning of relief in a 9-1 win over Brewster. Bourne’s nine runs and 14 hits are both league highs in the early going. The Braves have also allowed just one run on the year en route to a 2-0 start.  

Crawford has been heralded as the next big star at a UConn program that has produced more than its fair share in recent years. The 6-foot-4, 235-pound first baseman and left-handed pitcher batted .291 and had a 2.35 ERA this season en route to second-team all-conference honors. He’ll spend part of the summer with Team USA but is with the Braves now and getting a chance to show what he can do. His 3-for-5 day at the plate included two doubles. He also had a hit in Sunday’s opener. On the mound, Crawford struck out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect inning. 

Though they weren’t as busy as he was, Crawford wasn’t the only Brave delivering a big performance. 

Braylen Wimmer (South Carolina) has been at the front of the line through two games. He homered for the second straight day on Monday, blasting a three-run shot in the third inning to break a scoreless tie. He hit it off Bryce Hubbart (Florida State), who has the potential to be one of the top arms in the league. 

Tanner Schobel (Virginia Tech) also went deep as part of a huge night. Off a solid freshman season with the Hokies, Schobel made his debut and went 4-for-5 with the homer, four RBI and three runs scored.

In addition to Crawford, two other pitchers had scoreless outings. Jake Bennett (Oklahoma) struck out three in four scoreless frames. Austin Parsley (UNC Greensboro) was terrific across three innings, striking out six. 

Chatham 6, Orleans 3

After a tie in the season opener, Chatham made its debut at Veterans Field and broke out with a rivalry win over Orleans. A four-run fifth inning put the Anglers in front, and they held off a late push by the Firebirds, who dropped to 1-1. Star freshman Caden Grice (Clemson) hit his first summer home run in the early going. The big inning featured a three-run double by Lyle Miller-Green (Chipola) and a run-scoring double by Jake DeLeo (Georgia Tech). Miller-Green, who will transfer from the JUCO ranks to Oklahoma State, is 4-for-8 with two extra-base hits through his first two games. The Anglers also got a home run from Johnny Castagnozzi (North Carolina). Five pitchers took the hill for Chatham, with the first and last pitching the best. Austin Vernon (NC Central) struck out four and didn’t allow a hit in three innings. Trevor Martin (Oklahoma State) struck out four of the sixt batters he faced en route to a save. For Orleans, Jace Jung (Texax Tech) had two hits and two RBI. 

Yarmouth-Dennis 3, Harwich 0 

Locked in a scoreless game for six innings, the Red Sox broke through with two runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, while keeping their own shutout going. Briley Knight (Portland) broke the seal with an RBI single in the seventh and Wyatt Hoffman (Pacific) added a sacrifice fly. An RBI single by Peyton Graham (Oklahoma) provided the final run. Both Knight and Graham finished the day with two hits. Drew Thorpe (Cal Poly), who fanned 104 in a great spring, struck out four and scattered six hits in five scoreless innings. Zach Franklin (Western Carolina), Reid McLaughlin (BYU) and Brandon Dufault (Northeastern) finished off the shutout. Harwich starter Evan Shawver (Cincinnati) delivered the best start of any pitcher in the league so far, striking out 10 in six shutout innings. 

Falmouth 8, Wareham 4

Falmouth has scored 15 runs in two games and – after a tie on opening night – has a win to show for it thanks to an 8-4 triumph over Wareham. Michael Curriale (UCLA) continued a spectacular start to the season with a 3-for-3 night. He’s now 5-for-7 with three extra base hits in two games. Alec Sayre (Wright State) added two hits and two RBI. Jace Bohrofen (Oklahoma) had two hits and one RBI. Anthony DeFabbia (Stetson) was credited with the win in relief. For Wareham, which fell to 0-2, Jim Jarvis (Alabama) had two hits and an RBI. 

Hyannis 7, Cotuit 4

Cotuit’s Blake Klassen (UC Santa Barbara) homered on the second pitch of the game, but Hyannis had the last laugh, taking the lead in the middle innings and holding on for its first win of the season. Dominic Johnson (Oklahoma State) went deep for the Harbor Hawks. Zane Harris (Wright State) chipped in two hits. Cotuit managed just one run against the Hyannis bullpen. Tommy McCollum (Wingate) got the win in relief. Trey Braithwaite (Navy) earned the save. For the Kettleers, Klassen went 3-for-5. 

WHAT TO WATCH

Two standout pitchers from mid-major programs on opposite ends of the country square off as Chatham visits Y-D. Hawaii’s Aaron Davenport starts for the Anglers against Hartford’s Nick Dombkowski.  

Daily Fog: The Boys are Back in Town

Six-hundred eighty-one days later, the Cotuit Kettleers returned to Lowell Park on Sunday. 

And they won again.

It was Aug. 9, 2019 when the Kettleers won the Cape Cod Baseball League championship. On that picture perfect summer evening, no one had any idea that the title clincher would be the last Cape League game for nearly two years. 

With the 2020 season canceled due to the pandemic, Cape League diamonds were oddly quiet last summer. It was especially jarring at Lowell Park, considering the cheers that had gone up in the 2019 title series. Kettleers volunteers opened the merchandise stand on a few Saturdays. People came just to reconnect with their home field. I did a book a signing for Summer Baseball Nation on one of those Saturdays. It was fun but it was hard to escape the weirdness of it all. 

The new contrast on Sunday was much more welcome. The fans were back, and the Kettleers were, too, picking up where they left off as the rare two-year reigning champions. 

Cotuit scored three runs in the second inning and stayed in front of Wareham throughout in an 8-5 win. Eric Brown (Coastal Carolina), coming off a spring in which he hit nine home runs, delivered the biggest blow with a three-run blast. Last year’s Futures League MVP Ben Rice (Dartmouth) went 2-for-3 with two RBI. 

Six different pitchers took the mound for the Kettleers. Andre Granillo (UC Riverside) had the best showing, with five strikeouts across three scoreless innings. 

Wareham was led by Alabama slugger Owen Diodati, who went 2-for-4 with a home run. 

But this day belonged to the Kettleers and the fans at Lowell Park. 

It was good to be back. 

Bourne 3, Hyannis 0 

Bourne had the best pitching performance of opening day with a shutout of Hyannis. Three pitchers combined on the shutout. Gordon Graceffo (Villanova) struck out five in four innings. Nick Zwack (Xavier) fanned six and allowed just one hit in his four innings. Eric Adler (Wake Forest) allowed two hits in the ninth but struck out three to finish it off. The Braves also hit two home runs, Braylen Wimmer (South Carolina) and Dalton Rushing (Louisville) doing the honors. 

Orleans 8, Harwich 1

It feels like the Firebirds are loaded this summer, especially in terms of who is already in town, and they cruised to a win over Harwich at a packed Eldredge Park. Chase DeLauter, who hit .386 for James Madison this spring, went 2-for-3 with a home run and three RBI. Baylor star Jared McKenzie was 2-for-4, and Texas Tech All-American Jace Jung had an RBI. Coming off a solid season with Georgia, 6-foot-6 righty Jonathan Cannon struck out two in four scoreless innings. College teammate Michael Polk kept it going with two scoreless innings and Carter Smith (BYU) did the same. Nick Wallerstedt (Arizona State) allowed one run in the ninth but finished off the win. Harwich had Nick Sinacola (Maine) – one of the nation’s strikeout leaders – on the hill to start. He fanned four and allowed two runs. 

Y-D 5, Brewster 5

One of the rule changes for this summer is no extra innings, and opening day gave us not one, but two ties. In this one, the Whitecaps led 4-1 in the eighth and 5-3 in the ninth, but the Red Sox rallied twice. Andrew Compton (Georgia Tech) led the first rally with a two-run single in the eighth. Pascanel Ferreras (Western Carolina) delivered a game-tying two-run base hit in the ninth. In addition to the heroics, Y-D got a big day from highly touted shortstop Brooks Lee (Cal Poly), who went 4-for-5. Cooper Weiss (Coastal Carolina) homered for Brewster and Will Simpson (Washington) went 3-for-4. 

Chatham 7, Falmouth 7

It was Chatham delivering a ninth-inning rally to force the other tie. The Anglers trailed by one in the top half when the latest Georgia Tech catching star, Kevin Parada, delivered an RBI single that tied the game. In his third inning of work, Andrew Yancik of D-2 McKendree University in Illinois kept Falmouth off the board in the bottom half to preserve the draw. Chatham’s offense was led by Michael Curialle (UCLA) with two hits and two RBI. For Falmouth, Lyle Miller-Green (George Mason) homered and drove in two as part of a 3-for-4 night. 

WHAT TO WATCH

Day two brings a few rivalry matchups with Cotuit visiting Hyannis and Orleans heading to Chatham. 

Twenty-five Players to Watch

The Cape League is back in 2021. All of it will be a welcome sight, but these players should bring a little extra excitement.

Kevin Parada – C – Georgia Tech – Chatham

Jason Varitek, Matt Wieters, Joey Bart. Georgia Tech has a terrific tradition behind the plate and Kevin Parada is the latest to take the torch. Pegged as one of the nation’s top prospects for the 2022 draft, Parada didn’t disappoint in his first season with the Yellow Jackets, slashing .318/.379/.550 with nine homers and 42 RBI. He was a third-team all-conference selection.

Nate Savino – P – Virginia – Cotuit

In high school, the 6-foot-3 lefty was rated as one of the top prospects in the nation for the 2020 draft, but he eventually opted out of the draft to enroll early at Virginia for the 2020 season. This was his first full season with the Cavaliers, and he posted a 3.75 ERA while pitching as both a starter and reliever.

Bryce Osmond – P – Oklahoma State – Chatham

Osmond was ranked 53rd among high school prospects for the 2019 draft, and was selected in th 35th round by the Nationals. He opted for Oklahoma State. This season, a few rough outings inflated his ERA but his strikeout numbers stood out, as he fanned 67 in 57 innings.

Chris Newell – OF – Virginia – Harwich

Newell was a 37th round pick out of high school. He was tearing it up at Virginia when the 2020 season ended, hitting .407 with four home runs. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper tabbed him as its National Freshman of the Year. His 2021 wasn’t as good, with Newell hitting .234 with three homers.

Enrique Bradfield, Jr. – OF – Vanderbilt – Cotuit

The nation’s leader in stolen bases playing for Mike Roberts in Cotuit? Sign me up. Bradfield has been a game-changing player for the Commodores in his first season in Nashville, slashing .359/.475/.435 with 35 RBI. As for the steals, he’s up to 46 in 52 attempts. Bradfield, Jr., was named SEC Freshman of the Year.


Cayden Wallace – IF – Arkansas – Bourne

The top prospect in Arkansas out of high school, Wallace has been great for the top-ranked Razorbacks, slashing .280/.373/.496 with 13 homers and 43 RBI. He was named to the Freshman All-SEC Team.

Victor Mederos – P – Miami – Chatham

Mederos was the MVP of the Under Armour All-American Game as a high schooler and was rated in the top 100 draft prospects for 2020. In his first season with Miami, he put up a 5.11 ERA with 35 strikeouts in 44 innings.

Hayden Dunhurst – C – Ole Miss – Wareham

Dunhurst was ranked as the nation’s top high school catcher in 2019 and was drafted in the 37th round by the Rockies. He was off to a strong start in 2020 at Ole Miss when the season was cut short. This season, Dunhurst has slashed .271/.378/.431 with seven homers and 41 RBI.

Hunter Barco – P – Florida – Orleans

Barco is the top player from Perfect Game’s ranking of the class of 2019 to make it to a college campus. He grabbed a spot in the weekend rotation this year and racked up 94 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched, to go with a 10-3 record and a 4.01 ERA.


Cade Doughty – INF – LSU – Falmouth

Doughty was a 39th round pick out of high school. Before he even played a game in college, he was an all-star in the Cal Ripken Collegiate League as a rising freshman. After hitting .278 in the truncated 2020 season, Doughty was one of LSU’s top players in 2021, slashing .308/.368/.546 with 13 homers and 55 RBI.


Brennan Milone – SS – South Carolina – Falmouth

Milone scuffled a bit in his sophomore season, but he was fantastic last summer in an even more competitive than usual Coastal Plain League, batting .365 with nine home runs.

Carter Young – SS – Vanderbilt – Orleans

Young was Vanderbilt’s everyday shortstop as a freshman in 2020, no easy task for a young player. He’s reprised the role this season for the Omaha-bound Commodores and has provided some pop at the dish to go with great defense. Young ranks second on the team with 15 home runs and is slashing .266/.403/.593.

Gavin Cross – OF – Virginia Tech – Brewster

Cross earned first-team all-ACC honors after a terrfic first full season with the Hokies. He hit .345 with 11 home runs and 35 RBI. He also stone nine bases.

Jace Jung – IF – Texas Tech – Orleans

The brother of former Texas Tech star and first-round pick Josh Jung, Jace is making his own mark with the Red Raiders after an All-American campaign this spring. Jung slashed .337/.462/.697 with 21 home runs and a team-best 67 RBI. He ranked fourth in the nation in home runs and RBI.

Jared McKenzie – OF – Baylor – Orleans

McKenzie was hitting .406 when the 2020 season was cut short and didn’t slow down much when he returned to the field this spring. McKenzie hit .383 and cranked 10 home runs.


Daniel Susac – C – Arizona – Falmouth

The brother of former Commodore Andrew Susac, Daniel has had a spectacular freshman season with the Wildcats, who are in Omaha. Susac is hitting .329 with 12 homers and 61 RBI.

Parker Messick – P – Florida State – Brewster

Messick was fantastic in his first full season with the Seminoles. He went 8-2 with a 3.10 ERA and struck out 126 – while walking just 23 – in 90 innings pitched.

Wil Bednar – P – Mississippi State – Bourne

Bednar is draft eligible this year and currently in Omaha, so we’ll see if he makes it to Bourne at any point. If he does, he’ll enter as one of the nation’s top pitchers. Bednar is 7-1 with a 3.53 ERA and 113 strikeouts in 74 innings pitched.

Brooks Lee – SS – Cal Poly – Yarmouth-Dennis

Lee was a top prospect for the 2019 draft but informed teams before the draft that he would be playing college ball at Cal Poly, where his dad is the head coach. After the shortened 2020 season, Lee starred in the Northwoods League last summer and earned All-American honors with the Mustangs this year, hitting .342 with 10 home runs and 57 RBI.

Landon Sims – P – Mississippi State – Falmouth

Sims has been one of the top relievers in college baseball this season, saving 10 games for the Bulldogs. He has a 1.55 ERA and 85 Ks in 46.1 innings pitched.

Dru Baker – IF/OF – Texas Tech – Hyannis

The only Texas Tech player with a better batting average than Jung was Baker, who finished at .343. He also had four home runs and stole 18 bases.

Caden Grice – IF – Clemson – Chatham

Grice was one of the top true freshmen in the nation with the Tigers this spring. He finished with a .317 batting average and smacked 15 home runs.

Bryce Hubbart – P – Florida State – Brewster

Along with his FSU teammate Messick, Hubbart was great this season. The lefty had a 3.80 ERA with 94 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched.

Tyler Locklear – INF – VCU – Orleans

The Atlantic 10 Player of the Year as a freshman, Locklear finished with a triple slash of .345/.515/.686 with 16 home runs and 66 RBI.

Cam Schilitter – P – Northeastern – Harwich

Northeastern had a great spring and Schlitter was in the middle of it. He posted a 1.88 ERA and struck out 85 in 76.2 innings for the Huskies.

Summer without the Cape League

There will be no blankets on the hill at Eldredge Park. The fog will roll into Chatham, but it will not cut short any games. No donut burgers will be consumed at Red Wilson Field. “Hey, Hey Cotuit” will not echo through the trees outside Lowell Park’s fences. The lights from Doran Park will not be spotted from the Bourne Bridge.

The 2020 Cape Cod Baseball League season has been canceled. The announcement came Friday afternoon. It was a possibility as soon as the coronavirus pandemic really took hold, maybe even an inevitability, but it stung all the same. 

Like so many things in this altered world, disappointment mixes with understanding and perspective. So many factors are working against summer leagues – players arriving from all over the country and staying with host families, stay-at-home orders, gathering size limits, sponsorship shortfalls, facility availability. The league made the right call. And in the big picture, when people are dying and sick, when people are losing jobs and businesses, of course sports take a back seat.

But the disappointment remains. You are permitted to feel all these things at once. 

So many people will miss a Cape League summer. League officials whose reward for a year of hard work is a front-row seat for great baseball. Team officials and volunteers who put in so much time, all for the love of the game and the league. Managers and coaches who are fully aware that they have a dream job and enjoy every minute of it. Fans who pack the ballparks, pairing a perfect beach day with a perfect baseball night. Broadcasters, writers, interns who relish the best summer of their lives, just like their counterparts on the field. 

And, of course, the players. A summer in the league is a chance many of them will have only once. They will miss out on testing themselves against the best, on showcasing their skills for the largest scouting contingent many of them will ever see. And they will miss the fun, the camaraderie, the simple joys of a season of baseball by the beach, all the things that add up to make it the best summer of their lives. That they’ve already lost their spring season makes it all even worse. I feel for them. 

For me, it will be a strange summer. I don’t get to as many games as I used to these days, but I watch broadcasts most nights, stare at statistics and write the daily recaps here. I was planning to promote my new book, Summer Baseball Nation, at games this summer. And I was looking forward to bringing my 11-month-old daughter to her first game. Once upon a time, a Cape League game was my first taste of baseball. I was 6 months old. 

I’ve already found in this spring without baseball, that the thing I miss the most is the drumbeat of the game. It is always there, this steady presence, almost every day, from April to October. It does not require your constant attention. Game 79 of 162 on a sunny summer Sunday afternoon is there if you want it. 

In my world, the Cape League’s drumbeat is louder. I started Right Field Fog 13 years ago; the rhythms of the Cape League season are embedded in my summer consciousness by now. All of it is woven with memories of those perfect beach days and perfect baseball nights, even when I’m not there. I still look at a stat sheet with a hint of excitement, wondering where I’ll see these names again.  

I reach a point every summer, usually in late July, when I get just a little bit tired of writing the daily recaps. Three weeks later or so, on the first morning without a game from the night before, I always feel a little lost, wishing I had a recap to write. That time of year, the summer sun hasn’t yet set, but it doesn’t feel quite the same. Real summer is behind us. 

Many of us will feel a little lost this year. The sun will be warm. Maybe there will be baseball, somewhere. But real summer will be further behind and further ahead than ever. 

We’ll be waiting for it. 

One for the Woods


 
Lowell Park seems part of the woods, especially if you walk in on the narrow path from East Lane. You weave through, stepping over hardened roots, hearing something in the distance, but not seeing it. Then, suddenly, the left field corner of a baseball field.

They have seen a lot, those woods. Quiet autumns and long winters and wet springs give way to sun-soaked summers with the team that wins more than any other.

On a postcard of an afternoon Friday, the woods were more than their usual backdrop. Fans filled the edges, a sign of how big the crowd was. Home runs flew into the trees. And cheers echoed.

A lot of cheers.

Cotuit claimed its record 17th Cape Cod Baseball League championship with a 10-3 victory over Harwich that clinched a sweep of the best-of-three title series.

The win capped a memorable ride for the Kettleers, the latest in a long line of teams that put it all together at the perfect time. A year ago, Wareham played great baseball in the playoffs, but had also been the best team in the league all summer. This Cotuit team went 20-20-4 in the regular season and was the No. 3 seed in the West Division. It lost its first game of the playoffs.

The Kettleers would not lose again.

After beating Wareham and sweeping Falmouth, Cotuit won the longest finals game in Cape League history Thursday, prevailing over Harwich in 15 innings.

Win a game like that and you’re going to have some momentum. Playing the role of next day’s starting pitching in the old baseball adage about momentum, Connor McCullogh (Kansas State) aimed to foil it for Harwich. Instead, Cotuit greeted him with two home runs. Matthew Mervis (Duke), the second batter McCullough faced, cranked one out to right field. It was the first hit allowed in the postseason by McCullough, who had pitched the front end of Harwich’s combined no-hitter in its playoff opener. One batter later, Casey Schmitt (San Diego State) went deep to left and the Kettleers had themselves a 2-0 lead.

Balls kept flying in the fourth, when Schmitt homered again. Donta Williams (Arizona) added an RBI single.

Starting pitcher Sean Sullivan (California) ran with the lead, tossing four scoreless innings. Harwich hit two home runs of its own in the fifth, but Sullivan escaped without further trouble, and soon had a sizeable cushion.

Cotuit exploded for six runs on six hits in the fifth inning. Five of the hits came consecutively as the Kettleers wore a parade route around the bases. After Schmitt scored on a passed ball, Adam Oviedo (Oral Roberts), Williams, Cody Pasic (Maine), Nick Gonzales (New Mexico State) and Mervis delivered run-scoring hits.

The Kettleers were well on their way.

Harwich managed a run in the seventh, but nothing else. Sullivan ended up allowing three runs in 6.1 innings. Nick Jones (Georgia Southern), making only his fourth Cape League appearance after playing most of the summer in the West Coast League, struck out four in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

That set up the final touch, and, fittingly, it was Schmitt who delivered it. A two-way player all summer, he had already pitched five scoreless innings in the playoffs. After walking the first batter he faced in the ninth, he got the first out on a strikeout. Max Marusak (Texas Tech) followed with a line drive to shortsop. Oviedo made a leaping catch then doubled the runner off second base.

Players are usually halfway over the dugout rail for the final out of a championship. This celebration felt more spontaneous. It was suddenly over. The Kettleers were suddenly champs.

Their final act was a shining example of the brand of baseball they played in the postseason. They did not commit an error, finishing the playoffs with just three in seven games. They blasted 14 hits and didn’t miss many opportunities. The pitching staff that was middle-of-the-road in the regular season ended up with a 2.84 ERA after another gem.

The clincher was also a showcase. Sullivan was terrific, continuing a roll that had seen him pitch 24 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. Mervis went 4-for-5. Parker Chavers (Coastal Carolina), Coltyn Kessler (Kentucky) and Oviedo stayed hot. Of course, the league MVP Gonzales got in on the act with a hit and an RBI. Pasic lived out a dream as the hometown kid. And Schmitt earned Playoff MVP honors thanks to his homers and those last three outs.

The championship is Cotuit’s first since 2013. And its last two titles had both been clinched on the road. Getting this one at Lowell Park makes it extra special.

Cutting through the trees on the way out, noise from the postgame celebration echoed.

It had been a while since the woods heard cheers like that.

One for the Woods


 
Lowell Park seems part of the woods, especially if you walk in on the narrow path from East Lane. You weave through, stepping over hardened roots, hearing something in the distance, but not seeing it. Then, suddenly, the left field corner of a baseball field.

They have seen a lot, those woods. Quiet autumns and long winters and wet springs give way to sun-soaked summers with the team that wins more than any other.

On a postcard of an afternoon Friday, the woods were more than their usual backdrop. Fans filled the edges, a sign of how big the crowd was. Home runs flew into the trees. And cheers echoed.

A lot of cheers.

Cotuit claimed its record 17th Cape Cod Baseball League championship with a 10-3 victory over Harwich that clinched a sweep of the best-of-three title series.

The win capped a memorable ride for the Kettleers, the latest in a long line of teams that put it all together at the perfect time. A year ago, Wareham played great baseball in the playoffs, but had also been the best team in the league all summer. This Cotuit team went 20-20-4 in the regular season and was the No. 3 seed in the West Division. It lost its first game of the playoffs.

The Kettleers would not lose again.

After beating Wareham and sweeping Falmouth, Cotuit won the longest finals game in Cape League history Thursday, prevailing over Harwich in 15 innings.

Win a game like that and you’re going to have some momentum. Playing the role of next day’s starting pitching in the old baseball adage about momentum, Connor McCullogh (Kansas State) aimed to foil it for Harwich. Instead, Cotuit greeted him with two home runs. Matthew Mervis (Duke), the second batter McCullough faced, cranked one out to right field. It was the first hit allowed in the postseason by McCullough, who had pitched the front end of Harwich’s combined no-hitter in its playoff opener. One batter later, Casey Schmitt (San Diego State) went deep to left and the Kettleers had themselves a 2-0 lead.

Balls kept flying in the fourth, when Schmitt homered again. Donta Williams (Arizona) added an RBI single.

Starting pitcher Sean Sullivan (California) ran with the lead, tossing four scoreless innings. Harwich hit two home runs of its own in the fifth, but Sullivan escaped without further trouble, and soon had a sizeable cushion.

Cotuit exploded for six runs on six hits in the fifth inning. Five of the hits came consecutively as the Kettleers wore a parade route around the bases. After Schmitt scored on a passed ball, Adam Oviedo (Oral Roberts), Williams, Cody Pasic (Maine), Nick Gonzales (New Mexico State) and Mervis delivered run-scoring hits.

The Kettleers were well on their way.

Harwich managed a run in the seventh, but nothing else. Sullivan ended up allowing three runs in 6.1 innings. Nick Jones (Georgia Southern), making only his fourth Cape League appearance after playing most of the summer in the West Coast League, struck out four in 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.

That set up the final touch, and, fittingly, it was Schmitt who delivered it. A two-way player all summer, he had already pitched five scoreless innings in the playoffs. After walking the first batter he faced in the ninth, he got the first out on a strikeout. Max Marusak (Texas Tech) followed with a line drive to shortsop. Oviedo made a leaping catch then doubled the runner off second base.

Players are usually halfway over the dugout rail for the final out of a championship. This celebration felt more spontaneous. It was suddenly over. The Kettleers were suddenly champs.

Their final act was a shining example of the brand of baseball they played in the postseason. They did not commit an error, finishing the playoffs with just three in seven games. They blasted 14 hits and didn’t miss many opportunities. The pitching staff that was middle-of-the-road in the regular season ended up with a 2.84 ERA after another gem.

The clincher was also a showcase. Sullivan was terrific, continuing a roll that had seen him pitch 24 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. Mervis went 4-for-5. Parker Chavers (Coastal Carolina), Coltyn Kessler (Kentucky) and Oviedo stayed hot. Of course, the league MVP Gonzales got in on the act with a hit and an RBI. Pasic lived out a dream as the hometown kid. And Schmitt earned Playoff MVP honors thanks to his homers and those last three outs.

The championship is Cotuit’s first since 2013. And its last two titles had both been clinched on the road. Getting this one at Lowell Park makes it extra special.

Cutting through the trees on the way out, noise from the postgame celebration echoed.

It had been a while since the woods heard cheers like that.