The West lineup featured the league’s top four home run hitters – and the home run hitting contest champ – but it was the East that brought the pop in the 2013 Friendly’s Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game. Chatham’s J.D. Davis (Cal State Fullerton) and Harwich’s Ian Happ (Cincinnati) homered as the East smacked 12 hits and cruised to a 9-3 victory at Red Wilson Field.
It was the highest-scoring all-star game since 2008, when the East won 8-6 at Veteran’s Field in Chatham, and it represented the kind of fireworks show that was expected but not received at last year’s All-Star Game, when the teams finished in a 1-1 tie.
The West actually took a 1-0 lead off East starter Aaron Bummer (Nebraska) in the top of the first on an RBI fielder’s choice by Kevin Cron (TCU). West starter Jaron Long (Ohio State) then did what he always does – pitch a scoreless frame.
But the East steadily took control from there, scoring at least one run in each of the next five innings. The stretch was capped by a three-run homer from Davis in the sixth inning. Davis finished 2-for-2 with a homer, a double, and three RBI on his way to East MVP honors.
Y-D’s Alex Blandino (Stanford), the East MVP in last year’s game, would have made it two in a row if not for Davis. Blandino went 2-for-3 with two RBI in front of the home crowd. Happ, Ross Kivett (Kansas State) and Branden Cogswell (Virginia) also drove in a run apiece for the East.
Jalen Beeks (Arkansas) was credited with the win on the mound. Six of the nine East pitchers tossed a scoreless inning, with Daniel Savas (Illinois State) and Trent Szkutnik (Michigan) each striking out two. With top arms Jeff Hoffman and Chris Ellis not participating, Y-D’s James Kaprielian (UCLA) reportedly flashed the best radar gun numbers in a quick eighth inning.
Cron won MVP honors for the West.
The East has now won two of the last three All-Star games. Before that, the West had won two straight.