Some quick hitters today as we head into the regular season finale…
Hyannis lefty Sean Manaea pulled off a rare sweep in official Cape Cod Baseball League awards, taking home both the B.F.C. Whitehouse Top Pitcher Award and Robert A. McNeece Outstanding Pro Prospect Award. Neither is a surprise, but sometimes it seems like the league doesn’t want to give out the top prospect and an MVP/Top Pitcher to the same person. Manaea was deserving of both, and by a pretty wide margin. With Hyannis missing the playoffs, Manaea is likely done for the summer unless he pitches tonight. If that’s the case, his final numbers look like this: 5-1, 1.22 ERA, 85 strikeouts, 7 walks. Just an awesome season.
Harwich clinched the top seed in the East with a 2-1 win over Brewster and a Y-D loss. The Mariners got seven strong innings from David Whitehead (Elon), but it looked like he might be the hard-luck loser when Harwich went to the bottom of the ninth trailing 1-0 against a Brewster team they haven’t beaten this season. But in the ninth, a single by JaCoby Jones (LSU) and a single plus an error on a hit by Matt Reida (Kentucky) brought the tying run home. After intentional walks to sluggers Brian Ragira (Stanford) and Eric Jagielo (Notre Dame), Brett Austin (NC State) lined a single into left to score Reida with the game-winning run.
Chatham beat Orleans 4-0, which put the Anglers in position to sneak up to the third seed in the East. Chatham is two points back of Orleans, who has lost four straight, and would hold the tiebreaker if the teams end up tied. Chatham and Orleans play each other again in tonight’s season finale, so a win by the Anglers would clinch the third seed. For Chatham last night, four pitchers combined on a one-hit shutout. Jimmy Litchfield (UC Irvine) started and gave up one hit in three innings. Eric Stevens (Boston College) went four hitless frames, before Ryan Atwood (Florida Gulf Coast) and Jake Joyce (Virginia Tech) finished it off with a perfect inning each. Joyce struck out the side in the ninth. Andrew Knapp (California) hit a home run to power the Chatham offense, while Mike Fransoso (Maine) and Pat Valaika (UCLA) each had a hit and drove in a run.
Tyler Horan did not hit a home run, but Wareham won for the third straight time, beating Bourne 8-3. The Gatemen, who are currently two points behind Falmouth for second place, would end up with the No. 2 seed if they win tonight and Falmouth loses. Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) led the charge last night, going 2-for-5 with a triple and three RBI. Lost in the Horan home run mania is Schwarber’s hot streak. Schwarber is hitting .436 in his last 10 games. On the mound for the Gatemen, Frederick Shepherd (Amherst) allowed one earned run in six innings of work for the win. Jonathan Holder (Mississippi State) picked up the save.
Cotuit scored four runs in the seventh to rally past Falmouth for an 8-7 win. Aramis Garcia (Florida International) went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI, while James Roberts (USC) drove in three. Daniel Aldrich (College of Charleston) went 3-for-5. Patrick Biondi (Michigan) went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and could still reasonably hit .400. He’s at .389 and would need to go at least 3-for-4 to finish at .400. On the mound for Cotuit, Adam McCreery (Arizona State) got the win in relief and Dan Slania (Notre Dame) picked up his 10th save.
Hyannis held the Y-D offense to four hits and posted a 4-2 victory over the Red Sox. Matt Maurer (Pepperdine), Eric Eck (Wofford) and Andrew Smithmyer (East Carolina) pitched three strong innings apiece. At the plate, Brandon Trinkwon (UC Santa Barbara) drove in three and Jeff Schalk (UAB) knocked in the other run.
What to Watch
One last day of the regular season. The Orleans at Chatham game has the most playoff implications, with the Anglers going for the third seed. That game is at 7 p.m. at Veterans Field.
We can also do some record watching. Tyler Horan will look to break the wood bat home run record when Wareham hosts Bourne at 7 p.m. Patrick Biondi will be shooting to be the first .400 hitter since 1990 when Cotuit visits Falmouth at 6:30.
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Orville’s 2012 All-Stars
First Team
1B Gregor (ORL)
2B Blair (YD)
SS Trinkwon (HYA)
3B Moran (BOU)
LF Schwarber (WAR)
CF Ervin (HAR)
RF Aldrich (ORL/COT)
C Knapp (CHA)
DH Horan (WAR)
SP Manaea (HYA)
RP Connolly (COT)
Second Team
1B Dosch (FAL)
2B Hyde (WAR)
SS Blandino (YD)
3B Jagielo (HAR)
LF Travis (YD)
CF Biondi (COT)
RF Robbins (BOU)
C Garver (HYA)
DH Pehl (YD)
SP Blair (YD)
RP Slania (COT)
My apologies to Ryan Healy and Tony Kemp but you both didn’t play enough and you split time between positions.
I really hope Connolly beats out Slania for the Russ Ford (Relief Pitcher) Award.
John Edwards (Bad Move of the Year) Award: To the Orleans Cardinals for releasing Daniel Aldrich to make room for Dominic Ficociello.
Oops, I meant Firebirds. That happens a lot.
Good stuff! I hope Orville’s All-Stars become a yearly future.