small school, big impression, etc.

I’ll admit it. I enjoyed Summer Catch.

I’ve always gotten the feeling that Cape League fans aren’t supposed to like it, but I can’t help myself. I’m a sucker for underdog stories, and Freddie Prinze, Jr., tugged on the heartstrings, giving an outstanding performance as Ryan Dunne, a Cape Cod townie trying to make it big in the league he grew up watching.

So I enjoyed it, and now, every season, I find myself looking for the real Ryan Dunnes. Not necessarily local kids, but temporary players or guys from small schools — anybody who’s getting a huge opportunity and making the most of it.

Y-D’s Nick Liles and Cotuit’s Robbie Shields fit the mold this year.

They’re talented players, without question, but they play in relative obscurity, compared with many of their Cape League teammates. Liles is at Western Carolina, an up-and-coming program, but not a powerhouse. Shields plays at Florida Southern, a Division II school.

But Liles and Shields are fitting right in on the Cape.

Through Wednesday’s games, Liles, a third baseman/outfielder, led the league with a .457 batting average. He also led in hits and stolen bases. Shields, a shortstop, was third in the league with a .424 batting average. His two home runs were two more than any of the other top 10 hitters.

Obviously, they’re both off to fast starts, but there’s no reason to think they can’t keep it up.

Coming out of high school, Liles was one of the top players in North Carolina. The Giants made him a 29th-round pick in the 2006 draft. Since enrolling at Western Carolina, he’s done nothing but hit. His freshman year, he finished with a .335 batting average, and this year, he hit .346. Liles spent last summer in the Coastal Plain League, where he hit .317 and earned an all-star nod.

It’s been a similar path for Shields. He was a tremendous high-school hitter and he put up solid numbers in his first year at Florida Southern. He then made a big splash in the Clark Griffith Baseball League last summer, hitting .307 with 10 home runs and taking home league MVP honors. This spring, Shields upped his average to .348 and continued to show power.

So for both, the stage had been set. Now, they’re stealing the show, much like Freddie Prinze, Jr., would have done. They can only hope Jessica Biel is somehow involved.

A few notes:

• I listened online to a little bit of the Y-D-Cotuit game tonight. More on the game itself, tomorrow, but here’s one interesting tidbit: Arizona State outfielder Jason Kipnis, a fourth-round pick earlier this month, was playing second base. That matches up with this note from PG Crosschecker’s Allan Simpson: “There is a prevailing thought among scouts that he could even re-invent himself as an offensive-oriented second baseman with another year in school.” We’ll see if this is a regular thing for Kipnis or just something he experiments with.

• Also of note in that game, Cotuit starter Nick Hernandez, one of the top pitchers so far, had to leave the game after getting hit in the foot with a line drive. Cotuit manager Mike Roberts said in the postgame radio interview that he didn’t think anything was broken and that Hernandez should be OK.

• It’s no surprise that Cotuit’s Mike Bianucci leads the league in home runs and RBI. It’s just a surprise that he’s in Cotuit at all. The Auburn junior has long been considered a premier power hitter. He played on the Cape last summer and hit three home runs before an injury sent him home early. But for all the power, scouts question his other tools, a big reason why he went in the eighth round of the draft and not earlier. Since he was a draft-eligible sophomore, this was the second time he’d been drafted in as many years (23rd round last year), but the fact that he’s on the Cape again means he’s in no rush. If he’s out to prove something this summer, he’s doing a pretty good job.

• Russ Charpentier noted in the Cape League Insider Blog that Chatham expects North Carolina second baseman Kyle Seager to arrive on Saturday. Seager is a returning player who’s coming off a huge season with the Tar Heels.

• Strikeout-to-walk ratio is one of my favorite pitching stats, and it’s a pretty telling one so far. Harwich and Hyannis, who have the two best team ERA’s in the league, also have the best strikeout-to-walk ratios. Hyannis’ ratio is 3.6. Harwich is at 2.87. Also of note, Hyannis pitchers have 90 strikeouts in just 71 innings.

• Team USA is still waiting to announce two more players to its final roster. I think a lot of people assumed the two would come from the original invite list, but that may not be the case. ESPN’s Kyle Peterson mentioned in last night’s CWS broadcast that Fresno State third baseman Tommy Mendonca will play for Team USA. So I guess that final spot could go to pretty much anybody. The waiting might indicate that the other player was also in the College World Series finals. Regardless, the announcment should be out soon.

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