His Y-D teammate Walker Buehler takes the top spot for Baseball America after his brief regular-season stint and his dominant effort in the playoffs. Wareham’s Kyle Cody and Brewster’s Cody Ponce check in next, before the top two hitters, Brewster’s Gio Brusa and Harwich’s Ian Happ. Bickford ranks sixth.
Hyannis’ Marc Brakeman, Bourne’s Richard Martin Jr., Falmouth’s Kevin Newman and Harwich’s C.J. Hinojosa round out the top 10.
The full list:
1. Walker Buehler
2. Kyle Cody
3. Cody Ponce
4. Gio Brusa
5. Ian Happ
6. Phil Bickford
7. Marc Brakeman
8. Richard Martin Jr.
9. Kevin Newman
10. C.J. Hinojosa
11. Alex Young
12. Steven Duggar
13. Chris Shaw
14. Kyle Twomey
15. Eric Hanhold
16. Mikey White
17. Garrett Cleavinger
18. Joe McCarthy
19. Kevin Duchene
20. Zack Erwin
21. Josh Sborz
22. Kal Simmons
23. Kyri Washington
24. Garrett Williams
25. Justin Jacome
26. Kolton Mahoney
27. Ryan Perez
28. Rhett Wiseman
29. David Thompson
30. Andrew Stevenson
As always a few surprises from guys who show the flashes that scouts love, but don’t necessarily have great seasons, like Wareham’s Kyri Washington and Chatham’s Garrett Williams.
Good to see Kevin Newman cracking the top 10. He was not on this list last year, despite winning the batting title.
Gio Brusa had the production to match his tools this summer, and it sounds like it was a major step forward for him. He ends up as the top position player prospect.
It was a big year for shortstop prospects, with Martin, Newman, Hinojosa, Mikey White and Kal Simmons all on this list. I was a little surprised to not see David Fletcher on there somewhere.
A very quiet year for rising sophomores. Bickford – who is leaving Cal State Fullerton so that he can enter next year’s draft – and Garrett Williams are the only two on the list.
Ambidextrous Hyannis pitcher Ryan Perez clearly became much more than just a curiosity this summer. He ranks 27th on this list, although BA’s Aaron Fitt speculates that Perez may end up scrapping the two-way routine to become a lefty reliever.
The other prospect list you should be looking for is Perfect Game’s, which should be out in the next few weeks.
Marc Brakeman earned Summer All-America honors from Perfect Game.
Perfect Game’s wrap-up of summer collegiate baseball continued Tuesday with the release of its Summer All-Americans. The Cape League led the way among all summer leagues with 11 players on the three-team, 48-member squad. The Northwoods League checked in second with nine.
The Cape League honorees:
First Team
Conner Hale
Kevin Newman
Ian Happ
Kolton Mahoney
Marc Brakeman
Phil Bickford
Second Team
Chris Shaw
Alex Young
Third Team
Richard Martin, Jr.
Andrew Stevenson
Justin Jacome
Perfect Game also gave an honorable mention nod to Cotuit reliever Adam Whitt.
The list is fun to check out, not just for current Cape connections, but for potential future connections. Current rising sophomores will dominate the Cape League next summer, and PG’s All-Americans include 14 rising sophomores. I would expect to see many on the Cape.
The list: Pete Alonso, Jon DuPlantier, Troy Dixon, Sheldon Neuse, Vince Fernandez, Michael Echaria, Adam McGarity, Tyler Stubblefield, Jayson Yano, Granger Studdard, Jon Escobar, Matt Diorio, Gunnar McNeill, Ronnie Dawson.
The top standout from that class is Pete Alonso of Florida. After earning Freshman All-America honors this spring, Alonso tore up the Northwoods League, slashing .354/.419/.624 with 18 home runs on his way to league MVP honors. The home run total is tied for fourth in league history.
Texas A&M pitcher Tyler Stubblefield is another name to watch. He earned Pitcher of the Year honors in Alaska with a miniscule 1.05 ERA.
Phil Bickford will head to a junior college or independent ball.
The last pitch of the Cape Cod League season was apparently Phil Bickford’s last as a Division I player, and potentially his last as an amateur.
As first reported by Kendall Rogers of Perfect Game, Bickford will not return to Cal State Fullerton this year, instead opting for either junior college baseball or an independent league in order to be eligible for the 2015 Major League Baseball draft.
Bickford, the Cape League’s Top Pro Prospect award winner, wowed scouts and fans alike with a mid-90’s fastball out of the Yarmouth-Dennis bullpen. He was at his best in the playoffs, saving three of Y-D’s postseason wins in dominating fashion.
Bickford was a first-round pick of the Blue Jays in 2013 but did not sign and headed to Fullerton. Had he stayed with the Titans, he would not have been eligible for the draft until 2016.
Both Rogers and Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt speculate that a possible destination could be Cypress Junior College, which happens to be coached by Scott Pickler, the Y-D Red Sox head man.
Wherever he ends up in the spring, Bickford will likely become one of the top pitching prospects in the draft next year.
Steven Duggar was one of six Falmouth Commodores on the All-League squad.
This is a few days old, but in case you missed it, the Cape League released its All-League selections for the 2014 season. The team is below. Below that, a few notes.
First Base – A.J. Murray – Chatham – Georgia Tech
Second Base – Billy Fleming – Bourne – West Virginia
Shortstop – Kevin Newman – Falmouth – Arizona
Third Base – David Thompson – Orleans – Miami
Infield Utility – Richard Martin Jr. – Bourne – Florida
Outfield – Gio Brusa – Brewster – Pacific
Outfield – Donnie Dewees Jr. – Hyannis – North Florida
Outfield – Steven Duggar – Falmouth – Clemson
Outfield – Ian Happ – Harwich – Cincinnati
Outfield – Mark Laird – Bourne – LSU
Outfield – Andrew Stevenson – Y-D – LSU
DH – Conner Hale – Falmouth – LSU
DH – Chris Shaw – Chatham – Boston College
Catcher – Jameson Fisher – Cotuit – SE Louisiana
Catcher – Anthony Hermelyn – Harwich – Oklahoma
Pitcher – Michael Boyle – Harwich – Radford
Pitcher – Zack Erwin – Harwich – Clemson
Pitcher – Matt Hall – Falmouth – Missouri State
Pitcher – Jordan Hillyer – Chatham – Kennesaw State
Pitcher – Justin Jacome – Y-D – UC Santa Barbara
Pitcher – Ryan Kellogg – Bourne – Arizona State
Pitcher – Kolton Mahoney – Orleans – BYU
Pitcher – Kevin McCanna – Falmouth – Rice
Pitcher – Andrew Naderer – Brewster – Grand Canyon
Pitcher – Kyle Twomey – Orleans – USC
Closer – Phil Bickford – Y-D – Cal State Fullerton
Closer – Adam Whitt – Cotuit – Nevada
Utility – Jake Madsen – Falmouth – Ohio
NOTES
Kevin Newman and Ryan Kellog are your lone repeat honorees. The Arizona-Arizona State rivals had terrific Cape League careers.
For the second year in a row, Falmouth had the most All-League selections with six. Lot of talent at Guv Fuller Field the last two years.
Champion Y-D with only one position player on the team. I thought that might be unusual, but it’s actually the second year in a row. Cotuit had just one All-League hitter last year, Rhett Wiseman. In the case of both Y-D and Cotuit, it speaks to the ability to play one day at a time and find a way to win, without having the stars of stars.
Snubs? Jordan Tarsovich jumps out to me. Probably the league champ’s most consistent hitter, Tarsovich hit .322 with three homers. I think Y-D’s Rob Fonseca (.315, 4 HR’s) could have been there too. And Bourne’s Blake Davey tied for second in the league in extra-base hits. A couple more possibilities, but overall, solid work, I think.
LSU leads all schools with three selections: Andrew Stevenson, Conner Hale and Mark Laird.
Seven schools have an All-League pick for the second year in a row: Arizona, USC, Arizona State, West Virginia, Florida and . . . mighty Kennesaw State. With MVP Max Pentecost last year and standout pitcher Jordan Hillyer this year, the Owls are making some Cape League noise.
How about schools that have an All-League pick for three years running? Nada. I was shocked by that.
Kevin Newman hit .375 and .380 in two summers on Cape Cod.
Obviously, the answer to the headline’s question is “really good.” He made history after all, becoming the first player to ever win two Cape Cod Baseball League batting titles.
But I wondered – how much better was he?
To delve into that question, I decided to look at batting average for two-year Cape Leaguers. There are probably about 20 players every year that are on their second tour of the Cape, and many have gone on to great things (Buster Posey being Exhibit A). I figured there’d be a fair amount of guys who batted over. 300 for two years.
There were not.
Since 2000, Newman is one of just three players who have hit above .300 (with enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title) in two consecutive years.
The other two are Alex Blandino of Yarmouth-Dennis and Warner Jones of Wareham. Blandino hit .308 in 2013 and .312 in 2012. Jones – who played a remarkable 87 regular-season games – hit .303 for the Gatemen in 2004 and .344 in 2003.
Posey? Try .281 and .289.
Richard Martin Jr, the guy who was second to Newman this year? He was at .364 – and .193.
Colin Moran? Nope – .314 and .289.
Grant Green, the one I was expecting off the top of my head? A great .348 year but it was after he hit .291.
Matt Murton, a Cape League great? He did hit those numbers, but his .400 batting average in 2002 came in just 16 games.
The list goes on, but I think you get the point. Newman did something remarkable. And if you want to compare him to Blandino and Jones – the only guys in this class with him – then they probably shouldn’t be in the same class. Newman is the only player since 2000 to hit higher than .312 in two consecutive years. And he was way higher.
Notes
A leftover thought from the championship series: the buzz in the crowd when Phil Bickford came into the game was reminiscent of a Saean Manaea or Andrew Miller appearance. Everybody I was sitting near in the stands – even the most casual fans – knew who Bickford was. They’d turn to the person next to them and say, ‘Watch this guy.’
It also struck me that Bickford has the profile of a guy who is becoming an endangered species on Cape Cod: the highly-drafted power arm with little left to prove. From Gerrit Cole to Tyler Beede, the trend has been for those types of players to go with Team USA or take summers off. You can’t blame them. But it’s sure nice to see a blazing fastball from a former first-round pick on a Cape League mound.
Iowa catches up with Blake Hickman after his summer on the Cape, where the two-way player focused exclusively on pitching.
The YES Network aired a terrific little piece on the Cape League. If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth a watch.
Baseball America wraps up All-Star games across the minor leagues, with plenty of familiar names. Among the best performances, former Hyannis Harbor Hawk Adam Brett Walker was the MVP of the Florida State League All-Star Game. Walker has 24 home runs this season.
Matt Eureste fouled off pitch after pitch. Six of them, all with two strikes, pop-ups and choppers, one that hit so hard off his foot, he had to take a minute to walk it off. He did whatever he could to stay alive.
Phil Bickford wouldn’t budge. He kept pumping strikes, his velocity maybe down a tick, but his competitive streak still running hot. He wouldn’t throw a ball and he wouldn’t give him a pitch to hit. He struck Eureste out swinging on the ninth pitch of the at-bat.
For the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox and the Falmouth Commodores, it was that kind of series.
Falmouth did all it could. You thought, just as you did when Eureste kept battling the league’s top prospect, that the Commodores would be the ones to slow the Red Sox down.
Y-D never blinked.
The Red Sox swept the Cape Cod Baseball League championship series two games to none with a 10-4 victory on Friday afternoon at Red Wilson Field. The championship capped a remarkable season – and playoff run – for the Red Sox, who were 5-11 two weeks into the season before catching fire, sustaining it, and riding some of the best playoff pitching the league has seen in years to the top prize.
Many thought this was finally Falmouth’s year, maybe because they wanted it to be. The #WinItForTrundy movement has been embraced by two sets of Commodore teams now and – this year especially – by plenty of fans.
But it wasn’t just that. Falmouth looked like the best team in the league when it swept through the first two rounds of the playoffs, and its veteran team seemed poised for its finishing touch.
It never happened. In those moments that decide baseball games – where you blink or you don’t – the Red Sox simply stared right on through time and again. And when given an inch, they took a mile.
Thursday, they fought to beat a pitcher who struck them out 12 times, scoring all their runs with two outs. Their own pitcher dominated a powerful lineup. Friday, the Red Sox fell behind 2-0 and 4-2, but they answered the first deficit and loudly demolished the second.
The first sign that Y-D would own the big moments came in the fourth inning. Falmouth had just gone ahead 2-0, busting a crack into what was shaping up as another pitcher’s duel. Armed with the lead, Commodore starter Kevin McCanna was well on his way to an eight or nine-pitch scoreless inning. He had two outs and an 0-2 count on Josh Lester.
Lester fouled a pitch off, then took a ball, then fouled another pitch off. Then he inside-outed a soft line drive into left field.
Four batters later – with the help of a pair of Falmouth errors – the game was tied. Marcus Mastrobuoni’s infield hit scored one run, and the other came home after an ensuing error on the throw.
Falmouth went ahead again in the sixth on an RBI double by Boomer White and an RBI single by Austin Afenir. This time, Y-D didn’t let McCanna even sniff a one-two-three inning. Rob Fonseca lined the first pitch of the bottom of the sixth into left for a base hit.
The push was on again, and as was the case throughout the series, it was hard to stop. Lester walked. Brennon Lund – into the starting lineup for the first time since Monday – knocked his third hit of the game to load the bases. Joey Armstrong delivered a sacrifice fly and Mastrobuoni came through again with a base hit to tie the game. Michael Donadio drew a bases-loaded walk to give Y-D the lead.
As soon as the runner touched home, Bickford started stirring in the Y-D bullpen. Falmouth had done some good things and yet here they were, in the one spot they didn’t want to be in – trailing, with Bickford warming.
And then it got worse. Jordan Tarsovich smashed a bases-clearing double to deep right-center. Suddenly, Y-D led 8-4.
Sure enough, Bickford headed to the mound. He’d been dominant in the playoffs and now he had an even bigger cushion to work with. He gave up an uncharacteristic four hits, but no Commodore got past second.
Y-D added two runs in the eighth on a Donadio home run and an RBI single by Nico Giarratano.
In the ninth, Falmouth had a runner on first with one out and league MVP Kevin Newman at the plate. It was maybe a chance for Falmouth to own a moment, to swing things in the other direction. But Newman grounded a 1-0 pitch to third base, where Tarsovich started a game-ending 5-4-3 double play.
The Red Sox went wild, and deservedly so. Mastrobuoni and Walker Buehler were named Co-Playoff MVPs.
It’s their first title since 2007 and their fourth this century, more than any other team.
Their three previous championship clubs were dominant, part of the YDynasty. One of those teams won 31 games in the regular season.
This team will not go into the annals for a season like that, but they share an ending and an impressive route to it. Whether they were getting dominant pitching or chipping away at dominant pitching or playing fantastic defense, they were consistently putting the pressure on. They did it with a group that clearly had a lot of chemistry. They lost a few guys – their regular-season RBI leader is in the minor leagues now – but they mixed in some reinforcements and kept a core together. They knew their starting pitchers were a weapon, and they rode them. They shined in all the big moments.
Jeff Trundy will try to lead Falmouth to its first title since 1980.
The only good thing about Wednesday’s rainout is that it gives me a little time to get some preview thoughts down. Primary thought: It’s going to be a heck of a series.
First, some points of reference for the series:
Y-D and Falmouth have met twice in the Cape League championship series, in 2004 and 2007. Y-D won both match-ups, the bookends on its dynasty run of three titles in four years. Y-D has been to the finals twice since then, losing to Cotuit in 2010 and Wareham in 2012. Falmouth made the finals in 2011 and lost to Harwich.
Falmouth owns the longest championship drought in the league. Its last title was 1980, when it beat Chatham. The next-longest drought belongs to Hyannis, whose last crown was in 1981. Chatham is the only other team without a championship this century. Its last was in 1998.
This is the fourth straight year without a No. 1 seed in the championship series. Before that, at least one No. 1 seed had made the finals for 14 consecutive years (although it was easier for the No. 1’s to make it before the playoffs expanded).
It’s hard to understate how good the playoff pitching has been for these teams. The Red Sox have had the dominant, clutch performances, but Falmouth has an even better team ERA. The Commodores have given up four runs in 36 innings for a 1.00 ERA. For Y-D, three of four wins have been shutouts.
The rainout should only help the pitching. I’d expect both teams to have things lined up almost perfectly, with the exception of Y-D having had to use Justin Jacome to get out of the East finals. Walker Buehler and Kevin Duchene should be good to go for Y-D, while Falmouth should have the trio of Matt Hall, Kevin McCanna and Alex Young ready.
If that’s the way things shake out, Falmouth might have the edge with the three big arms to Y-D’s two. In its one playoff game not started by Jacome, Buehler or Duchene, Y-D lost 9-2. Jacome could come back for a game three on Saturday, but that would be on only three days’ rest.
If the starting pitching match-ups don’t do it for you, just wait until the late innings. Falmouth’s bullpen hasn’t given up a run in the playoffs, and the back end is anchored by flamethrower Garrett Cleavinger. Y-D has been touched up a little more, but any bullpen that includes Phil Bickford is a good bullpen. Bickford, the Cape League’s Top Pro Prospect award winner, had the equivalent of his Heisman moment for that award when he struck out the side in the ninth Tuesday night to punch Y-D’s ticket to the finals.
The lowest team ERA in the Cape League playoffs last year was 2.57. Falmouth, Y-D and Harwich are all under that bar this year.
Helping the cause in the pitching department is some pretty stellar defense. Falmouth has made three errors in the postseason. Y-D – in six games – has made one.
When comparing the offenses of the two teams, extra-base hits is an interesting place to start. Y-D has seven in six games. Falmouth has nine in only four games. That jibes with a general impression that Falmouth has a little more pop.
Falmouth also gets on base at a better clip – .374 to .297.
The top three hitters in the postseason have all been eliminated, leaving a Y-D Red Sox atop the list. Andrew Stevenson, right? Jordan Tarsovich? A.J. Simcox? Try Michael Donadio. The St. John’s freshman was the Big East’s Newcomer of the Year this spring and he spent most of his summer in the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League, where he won the batting title and MVP award. He didn’t begin his CCBL career until July 31 and had a total of two hits in four regular-season games, but he has a hit in every playoff game, including a home run. He’s batting .409 in the postseason.
Marcus Mastrobuoni has been another key addition for the Red Sox. He hit .373 this spring for California State Stanislaus, and hit .313 in five regular-season games for the Red Sox. He started at catcher in the last two games of the Harwich series and went 1-for-3 in the clincher.
On the Falmouth side, Conner Hale has paced the offense, and there probably isn’t a better offensive threat in the series. Hale is slashing .375/.444/.688 in the playoffs with a homer and seven RBI. He has driven in a third of his team’s postseason runs. If you’re making bets on playoff MVP, he’s the favorite.
Hale is part of a lineup that’s just very solid at this point. Jake Madsen quietly hit .346 for the Commodores in the regular season and he’s a consistent, veteran hitter, much like Cameron O’Brien. Hale, Madsen and O’Brien, in fact, are all rising seniors. Throw in talented guys like Boomer White, Matt Eureste and Steven Duggar, plus some guys who aren’t even starting every day, and it’s a very deep lineup. And they’ve got that Newman guy too, the one who wins all the batting titles.
Mrs. RFF and I are planning to be in Falmouth for game one. Can’t wait.
I suppose it’s prediction time. It’s never an easy task and this year is no different. You have to like the way both of these teams are playing – enthusiasm, good defense, fantastic pitching. I think I like Falmouth a little more, with its veteran offense tipping the scales. Feel free to share your own picks in the comments.
Phil Bickford struck out six in 2.2 innings to close out Y-D’s win on Tuesday.
There is some debate in sports whether “clutch” is a real, quantifiable thing.
Wherever you stand on the issue, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox have given one side of the argument some ammunition in the 2014 Cape Cod Baseball League playoffs. In the process, they’ve given Cape League fans a pair of classics.
The Red Sox have pitched very well in the post-season. And when they’ve had to pitch well, they’ve pitched beyond well.
Last night, Justin Jacome (UC Santa Barbara) and Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton) combined on a shutout as Y-D edged Harwich 2-0 in game three of the East finals to clinch a spot in the Cape League championship.
The Red Sox have now played two decisive third games this postseason and have won them by 1-0 and 2-0 scores. The fact that they’re decisive games is one thing. Then their opponents have upped the ante by pitching gems themselves, and Y-D hasn’t blinked.
Clutch.
Last night, Jacome squared off with Harwich’s Zack Erwin (Clemson). They were both brilliant, but Y-D scratched a run across in the second inning on a two-out chopper from Marcus Mastrobuoni (Cal State Stanislaus) that the Mariners couldn’t handle. Josh Lester (Missouri) scored.
Jacome gave up a double to Sal Annunziata (Seton Hall) to start the bottom of the second, as it looked like the Mariners would have a quick answer, but Jacome got out of trouble. From there, he allowed just one more hit, a two-out single in the fifth.
Jacome went 6.1 innings, allowing three hits, striking out six and walking none.
He left with his team clinging to the 1-0 lead but gave the ball to the very capable hands of Bickford, the former first-round pick. Bickford finished off a scoreless seventh and struck out two in a perfect eighth. His team added an insurance run in the ninth on a Brennon Lund (BYU) sacrifice fly, but Bickford didn’t need it.
Facing the middle of one of the best batting orders in the league, Bickford gave up a leadoff single to C.J. Hinojosa (Texas).
And then he was masterful.
Bickford struck out Ian Happ (Cincinnati) – one of the league’s top hitters – on three pitches. Then he struck out Anthony Hermelyn (Virginia Tech) on three pitches. Harwich’s last chance was Annunziata, who owned the double in the second. Bickford needed four pitches this time, but he struck Annunziata out, too, sending Y-D into the championship with a flourish.
For the second straight year, a team is into the finals after needing three games to win each of its first two playoff series. Last year, that team was Cotuit and the Kettleers went on to the title.
Y-D will match up with Falmouth, who is 4-0 in the playoffs.
The championship series is scheduled to begin tonight, but heavy rain is in the forecast, so Thursday might be more likely.
In a series absolutely dominated by starting pitching, the Y-D Red Sox had a pair of aces up their sleeve.
After second-seeded Orleans won the first game of the East semis behind a 13-strikeout shutout from Kolton Mahoney, Y-D starting pitchers Walker Buehler (Vanderbilt) and Kevin Duchene (Illinois) allowed a total of three hits in more than 14 innings of scoreless baseball as the Red Sox rallied to win the series. Duchene struck out 12 last night, and Y-D made a second inning squeeze play stand up in a 1-0 victory.
That’s pretty remarkable stuff. In the entirety of last year’s Cape Cod Baseball League postseason, there were three shutouts. Y-D and Orleans authored three in three games, all by themselves. (Falmouth and Harwich have gotten in on the act, too, bringing the total so far this summer to five shutouts).
Last night’s performance was perhaps the best of all.
Duchene was a big part of Y-D’s late-season surge, a surge marked by tremendous starting pitching. But he also blinked in his last regular-season start, giving up five runs in five innings.
Last night, he allowed a single to David Thompson (Miami) with two outs in the first inning and didn’t give up another hit. He walked only two.
His team gave him the lead in the second. Jordan Tarsovich (VMI) reached on a fielder’s choice and took third on a Joey Armstrong (UNLV) single. Josh Lester (Missouri), one of the team’s top RBI men who you’d expect to swing away, put down a perfect squeeze bunt to score Tarsovich.
Armed with the lead, Duchene struck out the side in the bottom of the second inning before getting into a little trouble in the third when he loaded the bases on two walks and a hit batsman. But he escaped with a strikeout.
That K was the beginning as Duchene retired the next 14 batters he faced, seven of them via the strikeout.
After getting the first out in the eighth, with his pitch count at 103, Duchene was lifted for standout closer Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton), who picked up where his starter left off. Bickford struck out two and gave up one hit in 1.2 innings. Fittingly, he struck out the last batter he faced to clinch the series win.
Y-D will move on to face top-seeded Harwich in the East finals. The two last met in the finals in 2011, when Harwich won on its way to the Cape League championship.
Here Come the Kettles
The defending champs are on another run.
Cotuit scored early and got some of its best pitching of the season last night as it edged top-seeded Bourne 4-2 for a spot in the West finals.
Last year, the Kettleers got hot in the playoffs, but there was at least some sign that it was coming. They were the third seed but they went 25-18-1 and finished just one point out of a first-place tie between Hyannis and Falmouth.
This year? Try the opposite: 18-25-1. They were 18 points out of first place.
But here they go.
Jake Harper of Division II St. Joseph’s College in Indiana played the familiar role of conquering Cotuit hero who spent most of his summer somewhere else. Harper won the Pitcher of the Year award in the Valley League this summer, and when your season ends after you win an award like that, you’re usually ready to call it a summer. Harper came to the Cape and pitched in one regular season game, then made an appearance out of the bullpen in game one against Bourne.
Last night, he started and allowed just one earned run in 6.1 innings. He didn’t strike out a batter but scattered six hits.
The Kettleers built a lead with one run in the first, two in the second and one in the fourth. Kyle Holder (San Diego) had two RBI, and Cotuit scored three unearned runs thanks to four Bourne errors.
Harper gave way to Austin Sexton (Mississippi State), who walked the first batter he faced. Immediately, Cotuit went to Adam Whitt (Nevada), the Cape League’s most outstanding reliever, and he did the job. Whitt struck out four and didn’t allow a hit in closing out the game with 2.2 scoreless innings. Whitt had gone two innings for the save in Friday’s win and, at this point, may be Cotuit’s single most valuable player.
The loss ended a terrific summer for the Braves, who set a franchise record for wins in the regular season and had a really good, consistent group.
Like so many teams the past two years, they just ran into the streaking Kettleers. Cotuit beat Bourne in the West finals last year.
Cotuit advances to play Falmouth, which is another rematch of last year. Cotuit beat Falmouth in the West semis a year ago.
What to Watch
Y-D at Harwich, 5:30 p.m.
Cotuit at Falmouth, 5:30 p.m.
Pitching has been fantastic so far and there might be more of it tonight. Michael Murray (Florida Gulf Coast) and Robby Kalaf (Florida International) square off in Harwich. Alex Young (TCU), who’s been terrific after a late arrival, will go for Falmouth. Cotuit’s starter is TBA.
Gio Brusa homered in Brewster’s victory over Harwich.
The Cape Cod Baseball League has used an eight-team playoff structure since 2010, and in all those years, we haven’t seen anything like what the Brewster Whitecaps are doing these days.
Brewster, well off the pace for much of the summer, has won five of six. Combined with a skid by Chatham, the Whitecaps put themselves into the thick of the playoff race. And last night, they took a full leap, beating Harwich 2-0 while Chatham lost to Orleans. That means Brewster is in fourth place by a point over Chatham, with one game to play.
It’s a rare feat.
When the Cape had a four-team playoff bracket, battles for those spots were pretty frequent. But with eight of 10 teams making it, there are bound to be two teams that aren’t even close. In five of the eight races since 2010, the fourth and fifth-place teams were separated by nine points or more.
And in the only close races, it wasn’t a come-from-behind situation, at least not one that happened so late. In 2010, Harwich held off Chatham by three points and had been ahead of the Anglers well before the stretch run. In 2011, Falmouth edged Cotuit by three points after going 3-7 in its last 10, allowing Cotuit to get close. In 2012, Bourne and Hyannis finished tied for the last playoff spot when the Braves lost their last two and the Harbor Hawks won their last two, but the team that came from behind lost out on the tiebreaker, as Bourne ended up with the spot.
Brewster’s comeback – if it’s completed – would stand alone. On July 25, the Whitecaps lost to Chatham 8-3. They fell to 12-24-1, while Chatham improved to 16-20-1. The Anglers had an eight-point cushion, with seven games to play.
Since then, Brewster hasn’t lost, and Chatham has gone 1-5. That’s the recipe for a takeover.
The Whitecaps knocked off East champ Harwich Sunday to take their biggest step yet. They managed only three hits but scored two runs. Gio Brusa (Pacific) homered and Zach Gibbons (Arizona) had an RBI. Four pitchers made the two-run lead seem plenty big enough. Joe McCarthy (Southern New Hampshire) allowed four hits in five innings. Ryan Mason (California) pitched two scoreless frames, Doug Willey (Franklin Pierce) tossed a scoreless eighth and Pat Ruotolo (Connecticut) pitched a perfect ninth for the save.
Meanwhile, Orleans beat Chatham 4-0 in a game that was called after five innings due to some classic Veterans Field fog. The Anglers would have loved to keep playing, because now the playoff race comes down to one game.
If the Whitecaps beat Harwich tonight, they’re in. If they don’t, and Chatham loses, they’re still in. But if Chatham wins, then the comeback will have been for naught.
It’s a sprint to the finish now.
Orleans 4, Chatham 0
Orleans scored all its runs in the fifth inning of the five-inning fog game. Geoff DeGroot (Rutgers) had a two-run single to key the rally and David Thompson (Miami) had a sacrifice fly. Kyle Twomey (USC) pitched four scoreless innings for the Firebirds, before Hayden Stone (Vanderbilt) pitched around a single for a scoreless fifth. The win allowed Orleans to move one point ahead of Y-D for second place in the East.
Hyannis 3, Y-D 3
The Harbor Hawks scored two runs in what proved to be the final inning, as the teams played to a tie in eight innings after the game was called due to darkness at Red Wilson Field. Sam Haggerty (New Mexico) had an RBI double in the eighth for Hyannis and Arden Pabst (Georgia Tech) knocked in the tying run with a sacrifice fly. Ryan Perez (Judson) then pitched a scoreless bottom of the eighth. Haggerty led the Harbor Hawks with three hits and two RBI. For Y-D, Andrew Stevenson (LSU) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Rob Fonseca (Northeastern) drove in a run. Phil Bickford (Cal State Fullerton) and Zac Favre (Central Florida) each struck out four in short relief stints before the late Hyannis rally.
Postponements
Games between Falmouth and Cotuit and Bourne and Wareham were washed out.
What to Watch
One more full day of games in the regular season, with one makeup game currently scheduled for Tuesday. Tonight, eyes are on the same teams in the East as Brewster visits Harwich and Chatham visits Orleans.
