1 July, 2005

Cardinals nest in second place

Harwich High School's baseball team isn't the only local squad in the news. The Harwich Mariners open play this week along with the rest of the Cape Cod Baseball League.

The College World Series has dealt the Orleans Cardinals a good hand, as their full complement of players has been here a while. 

When the Cards (7-5) took on Harwich Tuesday evening at Whitehouse Field, the Mariners were still missing seven men. Orleans has capitalized on that, building team chemistry while others ponder the future. 

The Cardinals didn't exactly beat the cover off the ball Tuesday, winning 3-2, but they were as opportunistic as could be. 

"It was a good win," manager Kelly Nicholson said. "To beat a team that was leading the league (a day earlier) and to beat Lincecum. He's very, very good. He's got good command. Our guys did a good job." 

Harwich starter Tim Lincecum (0-2) of Washington has been brilliant this summer with little to show for it. He held Orleans hitless for five innings, and had given up just two hits in 16 innings before the sixth. 

Lincecum walked catcher Brock Ungricht with one out in the sixth, and leadoff man Manny Burriss followed with the Cardinals' first hit. The pitch actually bounced, and Burriss accidentally chopped it over the mound on a check swing. By the time third baseman Scott Sizemore raced in to pick up the ball, Burriss was motoring into first base. 

Burriss took second on a wild pitch, and then Matt Camp reached on another infield hit, as batters were knocking Lincecum's curve into the dirt. David Uribes, (Pepperdine), who entered the game leading the league in hitting, struck out, but Greg Dowling slapped a grounder into the hole at second that Jim Negrych could only knock down, scoring Ungricht. 

A bases-loaded walk forced Burriss across the plate with the Cards' second run, and Camp scored on a passed ball. That gave Orleans a 3-2 lead - all the Cardinals would need. 

The Cardinals have four .300 hitters at the top of the batting order. Burriss, a Kent State product, is hitting .319 and has 16 stolen bases, far and away the most in the league. 

Camp is batting .313 and leads the Cape League with 11 runs scored. Burriss is second with 10 runs. 

Dowling, a 240-pound first baseman from Georgia Southern, is batting .311. The Cards' cleanup man has nine RBI, second the league. 

Uribes' average is .353, trailing only Jon Still (.372) of Falmouth and Chris Errecart (.364) of Y-D. He has 18 hits in 51 at bats. 

"It's nice (to have .300 hitters)," Nicholson said. "They've been doing a good job. They've got a good approach at the plate and getting good pitches to hit. They have to adjust to the inside fastball at 88 to 93 mph every night. Our hitting coaches, Rob Gore and Mike Clement, have done a good job with them. In the college game, you don't pitch in as much because of the metal bats. That's a major adjustment. Every night you're facing somebody's top-notch guy." 

Chris Pettit tripled off Harwich hometowner Cody Crowell in the eighth, the first hit Crowell has given up in 7 1/3 innings of work. Pettit tried for an inside-the-park home run, but was cut down by Negrych's relay. Orleans only got five hits on the night; Steve Singleton's single was the fifth. 

"I'm very happy," said Nicholson. "I told them that in a team meeting before the game today. I told them I was proud of the way we're playing the game right now." 

Teaford a treat for Cards fans 

The Cardinals didn't need a lot of offense against Harwich, as Everett Teaford shut down the Mariners on four hits through 7 2/3 innings. The first hit was a line-drive homer by Northeastern's Arman Sidhu. 

The other hits were all doubles, and Blake Lalli scored when his was followed by a sacrifice and a suicide squeeze bunt by Jonathan Wyatt. 

The Cards brought in closer Steven Wright of Hawaii for his fourth save in six appearances. Wright made it interesting, walking two men after Wyatt's double in the eighth to fill the bases, but he got Chad Flack to ground to third, then set the Mariners down 1-2-3 in the ninth. 

Teaford is 1-0 with a 1.25 ERA in three games, giving up 10 hits in 21 innings.

"I've been able to locate all my pitches. That's the key because I'm not overpowering," said the 160-pound lefty from Alpharetta, Ga. Like Dowling, he attends Georgia Southern. 

"I keep them off balance with my off-speed stuff," Teaford said. "It's good to beat a good team. Their guy pitched really well. It was just one inning." 

Teaford pitched pretty well too, as he has all year. He struck our four and most importantly walked nobody. He recovered from Sidhu's homer in the first and survived two errors in the fourth. 

"I'd like to make the All Star team, and win the championship," he said. "I'm working on my changeup. We've got a great pitching coach, Chris Beck, who's helping me with it." 

Teaford is also enjoying throwing at wood bats instead of aluminum. 

"Oh my gosh, it was such a relief. You get away with a couple of pitches and you're not afraid of getting hurt," he said. "But you still have to make good pitches, because these are the top hitters in the country." 

The low-scoring games don't put too much pressure on him. 

"Low-scoring means we're doing well, and it makes it more exciting for the fans," he said. 

Teaford is liking the Cape League so far. 

"I love it," he said. "I love the people here, my host family is great, I love the town." 

Cardinal notes 

The Cardinals are still missing two men: Wes Hodges of Georgia Tech and Colin Curtis of Arizona State. Curtis played in Orleans last year, batting .223 with three homers and 20 RBI. Both players are at the Team USA trials. 

Uribes also played for Orleans last year, collecting two hits in nine at bats as a late-season addition. He has already had twice as many hits as he had at bats last year. 

Orleans has 12 California players on the roster. They're certainly a bicoastal team. 

Pettit is not only batting .279, but has an on-base percentage of .426, fourth in the league. Camp, at .444, is third. Pettit, of Loyola Marymount, has four doubles, a triple and a homer, so he has gotten good mileage out of his hits. 

Burriss stole home Monday night in Orleans' 7-2 win over Y-D. He stole four bases that day and is on pace to steal 58, which would break the Cape League record of 48 set by Ray Marsh in 1993. The Orleans team record is 27 set by Pete Stanicek in 1984.