The Bourne Braves have won their first ever Cape Cod Baseball League championship after a 5-1 win in game 2 at Lowell Park in Cotuit.

MVP: Kyle Roller (East Carolina) – Bourne Braves

“Here’s a situation where the Bourne Braves just had more gas in the tank than Cotuit… Great way to finish it and good relief pitching by both teams.” – John Garner, CCBL PR/Broadcast Director

Hall of Famer Ernie Banks once said of a day like this, “It’s a beautiful day for a ball game. Let’s play two.”

That was the plan today in the Cape Cod Baseball League as Friday was set aside as the first round of playoffs for two games. Four teams hoped to advance to the semi-finals against the division champion Bourne Braves (West) and the Y-D  Red Sox (East).

We decided to forego the Orleans v. Chatham night game. Instead, I drove the boys to Cotuit this afternoon and caught the 3pm first pitch of the Wareham Gatemen at Cotuit Ketleers elimination game. It was a bright, sparkling afternoon at Lowell Field and we settled in among the Wareham fans along the first base line. We were slightly pulling for Cotuit since a win for the Kettleers would mean more games closer to home.

Lead-off batter Shea Vucinich (Washington State) came out swinging for the Gatemen, taking Cotuit’s Justin Grimm of Georgia (right) to left for a double. We had just passed through the forest trail in left field as the first pitch was thrown.

After that glimmer of hope for Wareham, Grimm settled in for the remaining 6 innings. He eventually would strikeout 10 and give up just 3 hits and one run.

Cotuit eliminated Wareham 5-2 to advance in the CCBL playoffs. Despite the loss, I couldn’t help feeling that John Wylde would have been pleased with his Gatemen, who enjoyed a good season and a playoff berth. His initials adorned the Wareham uniform all season.

You’d have to give Grimm first-round MVP props. The Cotuit faithful gave him a warm standing ovation when he returned to the dugout in the top of the 7th with a comfortable 5-1 lead.

Cody Stanley

But I would quickly add Kettleer Cody Stanley (UNC Wilmington) to the MVP list. Stanley singled to center in the 4th and then scored from second. In the 5th he homered to right-center for a two-run dinger.

Submarine pitcher Ben Rowen for the Kettleers looked sharp and got the save.

Wareham’s Cole Green (Texas) pitched the first 4.2 innings, giving up 5 runs on 7 hits.

Wareham did not bring its A-game today. Ironically, it was the Cotuit bullpen this afternoon that I overheard complaining that they were ready to go home. With classes about to start and a long rainy season, these guys are ready to call it a season.

But there is a fun, competitive weekend ahead. Let’s play two!

The Gatemen advance in the West

The Commodores gave their fans a fond farewell last night as Falmouth beat the playoff-bound Wareham Gatemen 6-4. Falmouth and Hyanis cancelled their Thursday game as it was moot considering neither team advanced to the playoffs.

So it was autograph night after the game last night. While Falmouth signed autographs for kids on the field after season awards were handed out, Wareham sat near the grub wagon to wolf down burgers and fries. I had a chance to talk with Gatemen GM Tom Gay who was curious to know the outcome of the night’s game since Wareham is fighting for homefield advantage. I was able to read him scores from Twitter, which has been quite useful this season. Wareham will need to win today and Cotuit lose  or tie in order to have homefield advantage later this week.

In action last night, the league batting champion, Todd Cunningham, went 0-3 with an intentional walk. According to this morning’s Cape Cod Times he will need to be perfect or near perfect to finish at .400. He was named team MVP last night and Falmouth GM Dan Dunn called him one of the best to wear a Commodores uniform. Pitcher Patrick Cooper of Des Moines Area Community College was named top pitcher.

Is it must me or did we see a lot of standouts from community colleges this season?

B.A. Vollmuth sparked the best fireworks of the night when he smashed a ball into center-right. Wareham outfielder Ryan LaMarre misplayed the ball and struggled with it at the fence. The ball was overthrown to third and Vollmuth trotted into home, also scoring catcher Chris O’Brien who finishes as a leader in on-base percentage.

Wareham’s Derek Dietrich and Connor Rowe hit impressive doubles.

A highlight for me was watching Jordan Swagerty pitch the 8th inning for the Gatemen. Swagerty is a catcher/1B from Arizona State whom I saw play at Safeco Field in Seattle this spring when the Sun Devils played the University of Washington Huskies. I had a chance to meet his parents that night who were visiting from Texas.

Jordan had a nasty breaking ball working last night. I stood behind the plate to watch him give up a single to John Nester but then go strikeout-strikeout and then 2-3 putout on a bunt by Cunningham. A sharp inning that kept Falmouth off-balance. Several of his breaking balls cut harshly away on righties.

Johnson is known around Clemson for great outfield catches.

If anyone has videotape of Addison Johnson’s dramatic centerfield catch last night for the Chatham Anglers you should send it immediately to ESPN. It is a guaranteed top web gem.

Unfortunately, the only evidence of his spectacular, full-speed leap near the 357-foot mark in Chatham’s centerfield is a deep set of skid marks – gashes really — in the warning track dirt and a simple L-8 in the scorebook to deny Brewster’s Zach Jones of a much needed extra bases hit.

“It was to tough to see because the fog is a big deal here in Chatham,” Addison told CodBall after the game.  “I knew he hit it pretty good and it was going to be close to the fence so when I started getting close I decided to dive and try to make the catch. I got a pretty good jump and I snowconed it.”

The Anglers  (36 pts.) and the White Caps (34 pts.) are battling for a spot in the East playoffs. Although Chatham beat Brewster 10-1, it was Angler defense tonight that served notice this team is in it to win it.

With one out in the 5th inning, just after Johnson had made a routine catch in centerfield, Jones came to the plate hoping to spark an anemic White Caps offense to life. I was standing near the leftfield foul pole making my way back to our spot in centerfield. I heard the crack of the bat and heard players yell, “Deep!”

Johnson cut to his left quickly and sprinted full-speed to deepest center. The ball was so deep I was certain he could not reach the ball. His number 45 was showing as his sprint suddenly turned into a vertical leap at the warning track. He is left handed and so his right glove-hand had to make a back-handed stab to snag the ball. Jones was a right handed batter. According to friends in centerfield the ball was slicing away.

Chatham fans are normally appreciative of good defense but the large crowd exploded with surprise and then appreciation that carried over to greet Johnson when he returned to the dugout later in the inning.

Johnson’s catch overshadowed an amazing play by Chatham’s third-baseman, Matt Duffy (Tennessee), on the very next batter, Brewster’s Niko Gallego. Perry answered Johnson’s diving catch with one of his own as Gallego’s ball was blasted and sliced down the third base line. Perry had to dive to right for a back-handed vertical grab to rob Gallego of a double down the line.

Harwich Mariners 8, Y-D Red Sox 4

Not fighting for a playoff berth are the Y-D Red Sox, who I saw play at home yesterday against the Harwich Mariners. Good thing they’ve got things wrapped-up in Y-D because they did not look good in the early innings yesterday, losing 8-4. Red Sox pitcher John Leonard (Boston College) had a tough outing.

Harwich’s Connor Powers’ 3rd inning homerun off Leonard was an absolute shot to centerfield. The ball hit the tops of trees to drive in two runs. Teammates Stuart Tapley and Leon Landry proceed then to hit doubles to left and right respectively to drive in what became a 6 -run inning. Leonard was replaced in the 3rd by Scott Little.

No games today since this is player appreciation day at Fenway. Maybe there are games in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) today?

Courtesy of Falmouth Twitter

A pop-up that vanished into the Falmouth fog last night may have kept the Commodores’ hopes alive in the West. A bewildered Hyannis Mets right fielder peered upward into the clouds and then watched as the ball plop onto the field in front of him. The umpires promptly gathered near the mound and delayed the game. The score, 2-0 Mets, was eventually wiped away and the game will have to resume at some point with a Falmouth player on second in the 5th.

Friends visiting from Virginia,  my son and I had arrived a few innings earlier after taking in a bright, sunny 5 pm game in Cotuit, where the Ketleers took on the Chatham Anglers. Cotuit prevailed 2-1 in what was probably the best game I’ve seen all season. Craig Fitsch, Navery Moore and  Ben Rown pitched brilliantly for Cotuit. Mike Dennhardt and Taylor Hill were strong for the Anglers. Hill was brilliant, striking out 6 in 2.1 innings.

Submariner

My friend Tom, a real baseball man, made an interesting observation on the game. In the Angler 7th, with one out and men on the corners, Cotuit brought in submariner Ben Rowen (right). Tom observed he would throw sinkers to induce a groundball and so Addison Johnson (Clemson) should bunt to avoid a double-play and get the man in from third to tie the game. Instead he swung away and sure enough hit into a double-play to end the inning. Woulda-shoulda-coulda.

That Kettleer win, coupled with indecision in Falmouth, means Cotuit is looking more and more likely to advance to the playoffs. but we’ve still got another week or so of baseball so anything could happen.

We will be in Y-D and then Chatham tonight. Y-D will make the playoffs, but Brewster and Chatham are in a real fight in the East so it should be a great game tonight.

Taylor Hill (Chatham/Vanderbilt) Photo by Lisa Dowdell

Is it Chatham v. Y-D?  Wareham v. Bourne?  Brewster v. Harwich?  Orleans v. Y-D?

These are all good, and you will add obvious match-ups that I’ve missed. But for me Cotuit v. Falmouth is the one I enjoy the most. It’s close to home. The Cotuit fans show up for road games and it seems their games always matter.

Like tonight. After a 4-3 win this evening, Falmouth stays alive in the West with a 14-19 record. Cotuit falls behind .500 with a 15-16 record. 

The 5:30 game was surprisingly a pitcher’s duel with Falmouth’s Nick Tepesch (Missouri) squaring off against Cotuit’s ace Chad Bell (Walters State). The score remained a 2-2 tie into the 7th.

Talking with Falmouth GM Dan Dunn before the game, I expected Bell to dominate. But instead Tepesch surprised. I watched him strike out 8 in six innings. He gave up two in the second on doubles by Cody Stanley and Tony Plagman but then really found himself — striking out the top of the order in the 3rd.

Falmouth’s Todd Cunningham was player of the game with an RBI double in the 3rd and then a walk-off single in the 9th.

The defensive play of the game was Falmouth’s 9-4-5 put out in the 5th. Cotuit’s Jeff Rowland drove one to right field. The ball was juggled out in right but then Rowland was thrown out stretching his double into a triple.

The highlight for me tonight was joining the  Falmouth Commodores broadcast. I don’t have his full name but the play-by-play announcer, Mike, is a class act. He knows the team, he knows the league and he knows baseball. I believe the full broadcast team is from Syracuse. They do a very good job.

A persistent question I get about why we do CodBall 12 months a year is, why? I said on the broadcast tonight, why do we breath? We have to do it. I am sitting here tonight watching the White Sox – Tigers game. Gordon Beckham is playing in this game. I can remember like it was yesterday watching him play for Y-D, sign autographs and play in the all-star game in Wareham. We do it because the moment they play in the Cape League is the moment just before they become Big Leaguers. It’s important and it’s rewarding to look back on those posts.

I’ve been to several former Cape League ballparks. But isn’t it ironic that a guy from Seattle — home of the Mariners — visits the Harwich Mariners last?

In this case, I saved one of the best for last. Cotuit has always been my favorte ballpark and Harwich reminded me of Cotuit. Perhaps it’s the setting — a beautiful baseball field set deep in a Cape Cod woods. Grandstands are on either side of a press box and parking near the entrance is scarce.

My son and I drove what seemed like just 15 minutes from Stony Brook in Brewster to Harwich High to catch the 7 pm Mariners v. Y-D Red Sox matchup. We were treated to a close 1-1 tie through much of the game. Between innings my son pitched to me in the batting cage along the left field line and afterward we had the pleasure of meeting the father (Paul) of Y-D Red Sox pitcher, John Leonard (B.C.). Leonard has real presence on the mound and throws a good fastball (92) and slider. He’s also got a curve and changeup. We chatted there on the fence in leftfield until his son came in to pitch one inning of flawless relief. His dad showed little anxiety as he got three consecutive ground ball outs to end the inning quickly. He is slotted to start on Tuesday.

Tonight was the first we saw of Connor Powers (Harwich/Miss. State) since he won the home run hitting contest at Fenway. He absolutely smashed a ball to left for a single.

Y-D went on to win 4-1.

It was during this game that I finally realized the power of Twitter. As I sat there watching the game my phone constantly vibrated, an indication that CodBall was being ‘tweeted’ or texted. In this new era of new media, there are layers within layers. There is what you can see on the field. There is even what you can see on a blog or a newspaper website. There is what you can hear on the radio or internet radio. But then there is also this inside game of Tweeting and texting. The interns and the blogosphere are active on every pitch it seems.

I love it but it does keep you busy. Harwich may be the best place to make this discovery. The park is very quiet. It’s quite conducive to multi-tasking.

Earlier in the day, after circumnavigating the very annoying Barnstable County Fair, we arrived at 5 pm for the first pitch at Stony Brook Elementary, home of the White Caps. The Caps played Falmouth tonight and won handily 9-1.

Falmouth’s starter Taylor Wall (LHP) was terrible and so was his catcher, Chris O’Brien. Wall couldn’t seem to throw and O’Brien couldn’t seem to catch. If you subtract the wild pitches and passed balls it would have been a closer game. It pains me to say that because I like both of these guys a lot. They just had a bad day.

On the Brewster side, it was another story. Pitcher Caleb Cotham (Vanderbilt) was lights out. Apparently he’s pitched just 5 innings but he looks over-powering.

Similarly, I like first baseman Harold Martinez (Miami). I watched Martinez sting two powerful homeruns at Fenway during the All-Star game and then tonight I watched him go 2-2 with an RBI double (they called it a triple) , a single and a walk. The double/triple was a bannana down the right field line that got past the rightfielder for Falmouth.

Shortstop for Brewster Niko Gallego (UCLA) also had a big game. I watched him hit safely in his first three at bats and score all three times.

Stony is a great, comfortable ballpark with a lot of character. It was sun-drenched this afternoon with lots of local fans.

The scoreboards in Brewster and Harwich are much nicer than what we see in the West.

They were treated to some excellent pitching by pitchers from the western division of the Cape and a triple hit by Zack Cox (right) of Cotuit to deepest centerfield. Cox was later named MVP for the blistering hit that will be remembered for sometime around the league. Big Papi would be proud.

“I knew it was a tough league. Other than that I didn’t know what to expect.  I knew it was going to be a challenge,” Cox told CodBall after the game.

Asked about the triple, Cox said ”It was a first pitch  fastball and I wanted to make the most of it. (Rounding second) I gave it everything I had.  I don’t hit a lot of triples.”

Western division pitchers Brandon Workman, Jack Armstrong, Eric Pfisterer, Dallas Gallant and Stephen Harrold combined to pitch 5 scoreles innings.

The West scored two in the first. Todd Cunningham of Falmouth reached on an E5 and scored on the Cox triple to deep center. Cox came around to score when Cody Stanley hit into an apparent double play but reached on a fielders choice. Falmouth’s B.A. Vollmuth scored the third and final run in the second after he singled and scored on Cox’s second hit of the night, an RBI single.

There were not a lot of highlights for the East this year. The East has led recent All-Star competitions. See the Cape Cod Times’ story today to read about the East’s 11-9-1 edge.

Addendum…

I enjoyed tonight a lot. I’m not sure I would play future All-Star games off the Cape but I did enjoy the experience.  I think there is something special about the All-Star game traveling from Cape League park to Cape League park. I do appreciate what the Red Sox and Cape League did tonight. It took vision and effort.

I saw a lot of friends tonight who love baseball. Most notably I got to hang a little with co-conspirator Andrew Wirtanen. I also met face-to-face for the first time Tom Simon, creator of Cape League dice baseball. I saw the Cape Cod Times guys, Brian Foley over at the College Baseball Blog and managed to be interviewed on WCAI/NPR.

Speaking of Tom Simon.  He handed Andrew and me two sets of dice game cards — the all-stars from the East and the West with their current stats.  I will roll a full game this weekend to see if the result is any different than the actual game tonight.

Right Field  Fog has a nice play-by-play.  We missed you Will.

I can’t wait to get back to the Cape tomorrow for more league games. Safe travels everyone.

Cameron Rupp, who replaced Cotuit’s Kevin Patterson, ’erupted’ for a total of four home runs to reach the finals and place second.

The announced crowd is 13,000 or so — the largest in the history of the Cape according to the announcer.

Game Notes…

The game started early at 6:45 pm in order to try and get the game in as the rain falls at Fenway. Boston’s skyscrapers are barely visible as they hide behind dark clouds. But the lights here brighten the mood.

Wareham’s Brandon Workman of Texas pitched a quick 1-2-3 in the first.

The West scored two in the first. Todd Cunningham of Falmouth reached on an E5 and scored on a Zach Cox triple to deep denter. Cox came around to score on a Cody Stanley fielder’s choice.

We’re underway!

The sparse crowd was treated to a pitcher’s duel between Brewster’s Kyle Blair (San Diego, right) and Whichita State’s Jordan Cooper. Blair was the more dominant, striking out 11  over the course of 6 innings and giving up just one run. The White Caps held on to win it 2-1, and Falmouth won game two 3-0.

According to this summer’s make-up rules these games run just 7 innings.

Cooper was almost as strong, throwing 5 innings, striking out 3 and giving up just 4 hits and one run. A pair of community college guys, Mitch Morman and Patrick Cooper came in to pitch an inning apiece. Both looked very strong. Morman’s one run was unearned in my view. His slider or slurve in the dirt appeared tough to handle for Falmouth’s catcher, fellow Tulsan Chris O’brien.

Tyler Thornburg (Charleston Southern) closed out the game for Brewster with a 1-2-3 7th.  He had two strike-outs.

Offensively, Brewster’s Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) scored both White Cap runs. He reached on a double in the 4th and a single in the 6th.  I believe Daniel Butler drove in both runs, the first on a double and the second on a sacrifice to centerfield after Gyorko advanced on two consecutive passed balls.

On non-baseball matters, I am impressed with Falmouth’s plans for a new press box. The roughly $250,000 project could catapult Falmouth’s already competitive franchise into the vanguard of the league. I bought a brick this afternoon to support the vision. Hope readers will get behind this important project.

I will be on the Falmouth broadcast next Sunday night.

Final note, the scouts were out en force at Falmouth today. As the only day game, all of the leagues scouts took in this game. They crowded around the field house’s shade throughout the afternoon.