All Star Game was a Hit to the Very End

CAPE COD, Mass. – Baseball fans could not have asked for a better day to play ball as Falmouth hosted the leagues 41st All-Star Game at Guv Fuller Field Saturday. 

     The festivities started off with the Baseball factory Home Run Hitting contest. Eastern Division participants included Chris Carter of Y-D, Matt Macri of Brewster, and Cesar Nicolas of Orleans. Jon Armitage of Wareham, Darryl Lawhorn of Falmouth and Joey Metropoulos also of Falmouth competed for the West.

     The Home Run Hitting contest came down to a face off between Nicolas (9 HR) and Armitage (10HR), who finished first and second in the opening round. It seemed everyone was hailing to Cesar as he belted 13 long balls over the fence in the finals to take home the 2003 Home Run hitting crown. Nicolas hit a total of 22 blasts out of the park, with the majority of them going over the leftfield fence and over the second fence landing on Dillingham Avenue. Nicolas was credited with hitting the longest ball of the day.

     The All-Star Game itself came down to a close call in the end, where the East rallied from a 1-0 deficit, scoring three runs in the ninth, for a 3-1 win over the West. 

     Harwich's Brad McCann started off the rally with a lead off single to right field. Two batters later Ben Crabtree (Brewster) started the nail bitter, hitting a stand up double to the right field corner to score McCann and tying the game at 1-1. Chris Malec (Y-D) drew a walk, putting runners on first and second and Ryan Klosterman (Chatham) singled to right field to load the bases. Sean Gamble (Y-D), the DH for the East, belted a line drive into center to score Crabtree and Malec with the winning runs.

     It was a tough defeat for the West after taking a 1-0 lead in the first and holding onto that margin until the ninth. The West struck first when Sam Fuld of the Hyannis Mets singled to left field to start things off. Fuld then stole second, and scored when Joey Metropoulos (Falmouth) blasted a double into left field.

     Fuld, who went 3-for-4 in the game with a run scored and a stolen base, was named the Western Division MVP. For the East, it was pitcher Garrett Mock of Y-D who earned MVP honors after allowing one hit to Metropoulos, striking out Eric Neilsen (Cotuit) and getting Hyannis's Jonathan Tucker to hit into a 5-4-3 double play in the fourth. -Liz Logan CCPL PR (508) 945-9492 

Cape League All-Star Game Televised on Two Channels

     The CCBL All-Star game was produced by joint efforts by Fox Sports Net New England, and College Sports Television. The game will air on Fox Sports Net on Monday July, 28th at 7:00 PM. The game will be re-aired Wednesday, July30th and Sunday, August 3rd. Fox Sports Net is channel 52 on your local cable. CSTV will air the game on August 1st at 8 PM. CSTV can be found on channel 610 of DirecTV. Former Red Sox commentator, and current voice of the Minnesota Wild, Bob Kurtz, and CSTV announcer, Jack Edwards, announced the game. . -Sarah Hinkley CCBL PR (508) 432-7288

Coca Cola Player and Pitcher of the Week

     Orleans' Cesar Nicolas is this week's Coca Cola Player of the Week. Nicolas went on a 7-for-14 tear this week, belting a double and two dingers while driving in six runs. He also boasted a lofty 1.000 slugging percentage and a .533 on-base percentage. Yarmouth-Dennis' Jordy Templet is this week's Coca Cola Pitcher of the Week. Templet threw 8 1/3 masterful innings in his lone start of the week, a 1-0 win over Falmouth, without allowing a run. Templet yielded just one hit and struck out nine en route to the victory, his fourth straight. -Gregory Feeley CCBL PR (508) 432-9786

Pitching Leads First Place Braves

     In an abbreviated week, the Braves held on to the top spot in the West by taking two games from division rivals Falmouth on Monday, and Cotuit on Wednesday. Undefeated Eric Beattie (Tampa) picked up his third win of the season at Falmouth, 5-2, sending nine Commodores down by way of the K and allowing only four hits over six innings. Beattie is third in the Cape League with a 0.48 ERA. Kyle Schmidt (Georgia Tech), the league's strikeout leader (57) improved his record to 2-1 tossing six shutout innings Wednesday against Cotuit. Tim Grant (Dartmouth) pitched three innings of scoreless relief to earn his second save on the season. Grant also boasts a 3-0 record for the season and a stingy 0.59 ERA. Andrew Slorp (Santa Clara) put together a string of sterling performances out of the bullpen this week pitching a total of 7 1/3 innings without allowing a run while striking out 11 and earning his third save on the season. Sean Dobson (Toledo) provided much of Bourne's offense this week hitting and scoring in all four contests. Justin Maxwell (Maryland) is fourth in the league in hitting (.341) and second in hits (43) and on-base percentage (.424). Perhaps more importantly Maxwell has played a near flawless centerfield having committed just one error. -Gregory Feeley CCBL PR (508) 432-9786

Orleans Shares First With Chatham and Brewster

     The Orleans Cardinals had been leading the Eastern Division of the CCBL, but now share first place with Chatham and Brewster. Each team has 39 points and is now in a race for the two playoff spots. Orleans' record is 19-14-1, after tying their last game against Hyannis on Thursday. Will Startup (Georgia) maintains an ERA below 1.00 at 0.93, which is the eighth lowest ERA in the league. In 29 innings, Will has allowed 17 hits. After a quick inning in the All-Star game, Rhett James (Florida State) continues to shine. James, 5-1, is tied for first in wins and is third with 53 strikeouts. Cesar Nicholas (Vanderbilt) had an amazing performance on Saturday in Falmouth during the homerun derby. He won the derby by smashing 13 balls over the fence in the finals. Aside from hitting bombs, Nicholas can bring his teammates home. Cesar is in a three-way tie for first in RBI, with 20 on the year. Outfielder, Jon Zerengue (LSU) is close behind with 19 RBI. Zerengue is ninth in batting at .295. . -Sarah Hinkley CCBL PR (508) 432-7288 

Chatham Rallies Close to Playoffs

     After holding the third spot in the league for several weeks, the Chatham A's have come together to be in a three-way tie for first in the East Division. Chatham has won their last five games, and has gone 7-3 in its last ten. Their overall record is 19-15-1. Chatham's catcher, Zach Dillon (Baylor) has made personal improvements at the plate. In his last 12 at-bats, Dillon has seven hits including a home run against Hyannis Friday afternoon. Zach's batting average has climbed from a .104 to a .200 this past week. Baylor Bear teammate, Paul Witt, has also improved his swing. Witt now leads the league in triples with two. Witt has 17 hits and 3 stolen bases. Jeff Frazier (Rutgers) and Ben Ingold (Wake Forest) are tied with Cesar Nicolas of Orleans for most RBI with 20. Frazier hit his second homerun of the year against Y-D on Wednesday. Chatham's shortstop Ryan Klosterman (Vanderbilt) has scored 22 runs this season, good for first in the league. Chatham is second in the league for with a team ERA of 2.33, and first in the Eastern Division. Chatham's ace, Glen Swanson (UC-Irvine), still leads the league in wins with five. Swanson earned his fifth wins against Y-D on Wednesday, despite having to be taken out of the game after getting hit in his right eye. Chatham's low ERA can be accounted for by Adam Yates's (Ole Miss) strong performance out of the bullpen. Yates has the seventh lowest ERA in the league with a 0.93. In 29 innings pitched, Yates has struck out 21 batters and walked eight. Zane Carlson remains third with eight saves. Zane has a 1.05 ERA in 17 innings pitched with 22 strikeouts. Carlson produced the save in the All-Star game for the East to defeat the West 3-1. . -Sarah Hinkley CCBL PR (508) 432-7288

Holt leads the East with a .352

     Brewster Whitecaps' J.C. Holt (LSU) now leads the East Division in hitting, and holds second place in the league. Holt's batting average is an impressive .352, in which he has 37 hits in 105 at-bats. J.C. has scored 18 runs. The Eastern All-Star went 3-for-5 with a double and a stolen base on Monday against Hyannis. Homerun Derby contestant, Matt Macri (Notre Dame) is now in second with seven homeruns. Macri hit his seventh homerun in the bottom of the ninth against Wareham on Wednesday. Despite the three-run homerun, Brewster went to extra innings against the Gatemen and lost 7-6. The following night, Macri hit a double against Bourne to make his 17th hit of the season. East All-Star, Aaron Rawl (South Carolina) continues to be among the top 10 pitchers of the league. In ninth place, Rawl posts a 3-0 record with a 1.13 ERA. The hard-throwing righty has struck out 32 batters this season. Bret Butler (USC) was named to the Eastern All-Star team, but had to return to his hometown due to a wrist injury. When he left Butler was fifth with a 0.75 ERA and had a 2-2 record. Butler struck out 26 hitters in the 36 innings he pitched as a Whitecap. The Whitecaps are in a three-way tie for first in the East with Orleans and Chatham. Their record is 19-15-1. -Sarah Hinkley CCBL PR (508) 432-7288 

Y-D Takes Fourth

     After spending three weeks in the top spot of the Eastern Division, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox fall to fourth place behind Chatham, Brewster, and Orleans, who are in a three-way tie. The Red Sox are 18-17, and have lost their last three. Despite the last few games, Y-D holds on to the highest team batting average with a .262. This is largely due to the fact that Y-D produced the most All-Stars with eight participants, five of which were hitters. Three of the Red Sox are still among the top ten hitters. Hyung Cho (Houston) is in fourth with a .337 batting average and is tied for first with 20 RBI. Cho's slugging percentage is a .510. Sean Gamble (Auburn) holds on to the seventh spot with a .313 batting average. Gamble has 31 hits on the year. Right behind Gamble is Chris Malec (UC Santa Barbara). Malec holds the eighth spot for hitters with a .301 batting average and was featured on the cover of the All-Star program that was sold Saturday at Falmouth. Malec has 34 hits and 14 runs on the season, and banged out two hits during the All-Star game. Garrett Mock (Houston) received the MVP award for the East during Saturday's All-Star game. Mock threw a quick, scoreless inning to impress the scouts. Mock has struck out 32 batters in 26 innings. Justin Keadle (Wake Forest) has struck out 51 batters in 48.1 innings. Closer, Justin Meier (LSU) has a mean fastball that hitters can't handle. Meier has struck out 30 batters in only 16.2 innings pitched. Maier posts a low 1.08 ERA. . -Sarah Hinkley CCBL PR (508) 432-7288 

Brad McCann started off a rally in the 9th helping the East to a 3-1 defeat over the west in the 2003 All-Star Game 

     The Harwich Mariners are currently in fifth place in the East with 33 points and a record of 16-17-1. The Mariners battled it into the bottom of the 10th against the Whitecaps when Brewster pulled through. Kyle Larson started things off with an infield single and Aaron Hathaway finished it off with a double down the right field line to score the winning run beating the Mariners 7-6 at Cape Tech Sunday night. Brad McCann (Clemson) led Harwich going 3-for-4 with two runs scored. Harwich came up on top beating the Orleans Cardinals 3-1 Monday evening. Chuck Jeroloman (Auburn) went 3-for-4 for Harwich while Cory Newman (S. Illinois) was 2-for-4. Charleston Southern's Robert Swindle (5-2) earned the win with seven innings of six-hit ball, not walking a batter and striking out six. The Mariners were able to stay alive in the fourth when a wild pitch struck out Jeff Dragicevich (Cal Berkeley), which allowed Newman to score the go ahead run. Jeroloman drove in Tug Hulett (Auburn) with a double in the same inning for a 3-1 lead. Tuesday evening two Mariners were honored at Fenway Park for All-Star Recognition. Justin Hedrick (Northeastern) and Brad McCann (Clemson) both received plaques to honor their achievement of making the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Team. Wednesday evening the Mariners got hot as Harwich got solo home runs from Mike Leonard (UConn) in the sixth and Josh Archer (Middle Tennessee State) in the seventh while Jeff Dragicevich (Cal-Berkeley) proved to be the star of the HR contest hitting a grand slam in the top of the ninth. Unfortunately even with the great spectacle of power hitting the Mariners displayed they still suffered as Brent Johnson's run scoring single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth proved to be all that mattered as Falmouth beat out Harwich 7-6 at Guv Fuller Field. -Liz Logan CCPL PR (508) 945-9492

Red Hot Fuld Leads Hyannis

     Sam Fuld (Stanford), currently riding an 11 game hit streak, now leads the Cape League in hitting. Over the last 11 games Fuld has gone 20-for-48 with three doubles, a homerun, eight RBI and five stolen bases while watching his batting average soar from .286 to.356. Ryan Baty (Kansas) has also hit safely in the last four games. In Friday's loss to Chatham, Baty went 2-4 and tallied his second double of the season. The Mets were involved in back-to-back battles with Orleans Wednesday and Thursday. Hyannis dropped the first game in Orleans by a count of 4-3 and tied the Cardinals at home 4-4 in the second. Ben Harrison (Florida) went 3-9 over the two game series knocking two runs while crossing the plate once himself. He also stole his fifth base of the season. Matt Sauls (Florida State) pitched seven innings in the tie allowing only four hits and striking out seven. Jonathan Tucker (Florida) stole his league leading 14th base Wednesday. He's three ahead of the closest challenger. Harrison left Friday's game against Chatham with a broken wrist. His return to action this summer is uncertain. -Gregory Feeley CCBL PR (508) 432-9786

Cotuit Making West Race Interesting

     The third place Kettleers won two of their four contests this week and dropped another close one to Chatham 3-2 in extra innings. Cotuit's hot bats have led the way. In a pair of 8-5 victories at Wareham Monday, and at Yarmouth-Dennis Sunday, Jeff Nielsen (UNLV) went a combined 7-for-10 with two runs scored and two batted in. C.J. Smith (Florida) and Blake Gill (LSU) also contributed from the batter's box in the wins. Smith went 5-for-7 over the two contests scoring four runs and driving in six. Gill went 3-for-7 scoring three runs and knocking in another. John Hardy (Arizona) added three hits and two runs scored in Sundays win at Y-D while the bullpen combined for 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief. Donald Brickle (Jacksonville) earned his first win of the season and Luke Hochevar (Tennessee) picked up his fourth save. -Gregory Feeley CCBL PR (508) 432-9786

Wareham Takes Two

     Wareham picked up a pair of wins this week behind both strong pitching and batting performances. Wareham's leadoff man, Warner Jones, (Vanderbilt) also the leagues leader in hits (54), went 7-for-21 over the week scoring three runs and driving in another. Jones had two hits in Fridays win over Falmouth. Michael Hollimon (Texas) added three hits and three RBI. It was Hollimon's second multi-hit game of the week as he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored in Monday's 8-5 loss to Cotuit. A pair of solid pitching performances could only produce one win for the Gatemen. Trey Taylor (Baylor) wound up on the short end of a 5-2 decision against Orleans. Taylor pitched 7 1/3 innings, struck out seven and allowed just one earned run. Wade Townsend (Rice) beat Falmouth 6-1 to pick up his first win of the season. Townsend pitched eight strong innings allowing just one earned run on two hits and struck out nine. -Gregory Feeley CCBL PR (508) 432-9786

Falmouth Commodores Metropoulos Shines at All-Star Game

     Joey Metropoulos (USC) had two hits and drove in the West’s only run in the 3-1 loss to the East. The Falmouth Commodores are currently in fifth place in the West with 25 points and a record of 12-22-1. Falmouth had a tough defeat Sunday night against Y-D at Guv Fuller Field as the Red Sox came out on top beating the Commodores 1-0. Falmouth's Jeff Gogal (Montclair) pitched a complete game, five-hitter, allowing just one run while striking out eight. The Red Sox (18-4) scored the only run of the game in the seventh. Despite the long rain delay, the All-Star Recognition at Fenway Park went well as the Commodores had three players honored Joey Metropoulos (USC), Darryl Lawhorn (East Carolina), and Billy Mohl (Tulane). The All-Stars were awarded plaques on the field before the game and had a dinner for them at the Players Club in Fenway Park pre-game. Wednesday night against the Mariners, the Commodores proved that they could battle through even the best power displays as Brent Johnson (UNLV) had a run scoring single with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, leading Falmouth to a 7-6 come-from-behind win over Harwich 7-6. -Liz Logan CCPL PR (508) 945-9492 

John Garner, Jr.
CCBL Director of Public Relations & Broadcasting
(508) 790-0394 johnwgarner@earthlink.net