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.
Classic is right! This was a remarkable season, a remarkable series & while perhaps not the most talented top-to-bottom team in the history of the Cape, was certainly perhaps the most passionate, clutch, exciting & dramatic team in a long, long time.
I know there are those that question whether these kids care about whether they win or lose & are perhaps more concerned about when they can get home, and that is a legit sentiment that applies to many. However, if you saw the reaction by Ty Ross when he hit his game 1 blast or watched this team constanty standing on the top step of the dugout – never giving up – always with a positive attitude, lifting each other up, it was no surprise that this team rode that attitude to the title. Every dramatic moment & every comeback in this incredible stretch drew as many observations regarding the Gatemen dugout “exploding” or “erupting” as it did the actual play itself.
This Gatemen team bonded like none I have seen on the Cape. Just follow their Twitter feeds. True brotherhood among these players and even players that were here for a short period or teammates from the 2011 team demonstrated a connection which is quite impressive considering many of them have known each other for a relatively short period of time and may never see each other as a group ever again.
From a “baseball” standpoint, the hitting talent on this team is incredible & it might be a long time before we see such a deep group be together in the same lineup. The 2002 Gatemen Championship team featured Matt Murton & David Murphy. This team featured Schwarber – Horan – Palka – Hyde – Ross in the 3-6 spots – not to mention perhaps the best lead off hitter in the league in Cole Sturgeon. Schwarber was playoff MVP, all but Sturgeon were All-Stars (and he could have been easily) & Horan SHOULD HAVE been the MVP. (You will still have to explain that one to me!!)
After a ten year drought, Wareham is back!
Did anybody catch that monstrosity of an All-League Team? They’ve got Tyler Horan as the third baseman, which is the position at which Pointstreak lists him, but I don’t know if he played a game there all season! Meanwhile, they’ve got Colin Moran as one of three DHs. Why not put Moran at third and Horan at DH, where they actually played?
Meanwhile, Brandon Trinkwon — a far superior shortstop than Alex Blandino — was left off altogether. Does fielding even matter? And even if you consider only offensive numbers, Trinkwon was just as good, maybe even better (even though his batting average was slightly lower). I think it’s part of the “Pointstreakization” of the CCBL — which is the only reason anybody would refer to Daniel Aldrich as a .350 hitter even though he batted .325 when you factor in the nearly quarter of a season he played for Orleans. It’s the same guy, even though Pointstreak lists his Cotuit and Orleans stats separately like they’re different players.
Other glaring omissions: Mason Robbins, Ryan Healy, and Mott Hyde. I didn’t see enough of Robbins’s defense but both Healy and Hyde were excellent defenders and played multiple infield positions. Meanwhile, Sam Travis was named as a utility infielder when he split his time between left field and first base (with maybe a single game at third).
I can’t really gripe too much about the pitchers — after all, they selected A DOZEN of them — but the article describes Ryan Connolly and Dan Slania as the CLOSERS. Connolly had a great year as a relief pitcher but he was no closer. Kyle Crockett was, however.
Next year, CCBL, let Orville pick your All-League Team. Here’s how this years’s SHOULD have looked:
C Knapp (CHA)
C Garver (HYA)
1B Gregor (ORL)
2B Hyde (WAR)
SS Trinkwon (HYA)
3B Moran (BOU)
IF Dosch (FAL)
IF Healy (BRE) or Blandino (YD) (who also played a lot of 3B)
OF Ervin (HAR)
OF Biondi (COT)
OF Aldrich (ORL/COT)
OF Schwarber (WAR)
OF Robbins (BOU)
DH Horan (WAR)
DH Pehl (YD)
U Blair (YD) (a TRUE utilityman)
U Kemp (COT) (played a lot of OF in addition to 2B)
U Travis (YD) (I’m going with three Utility instead of three DH)
The only guy who would have a gripe is whomever I left off between Healy and Blandino, but in the games I saw Blandino dropped a popup and played some pretty ragged defense. Sturgeon, Jagielo, and Palka were all great players, and in most years their numbers would easily make them All-League, but they should just barely miss the cut in this season of offense.
CapeMan – Well said. Wareham had something special, that’s for sure.
Orville – Someone should put you in charge.