22 July, 2005

Whitecaps surf rough seas
The Brewster Whitecaps haven't crested, or so they hope.

Brewster has hung around, at 13-17, just four victories out of second place with 15 games remaining. They took one of three consecutive games from the Y-D Red Sox this week, scoring six runs in the sixth in a 7-5 win at Red Wilson Field Tuesday after losing 11-4 at home the night before.

Y-D won a makeup game 7-0 at Brewster Wednesday.

"It was an awesome win," said head coach Bob Macaluso after Tuesday's come-from-behind win. "The guys are battling. We've struggled, but tonight was a good comeback. The pitching was good. Harris (Honeycutt) had a good game. (Jonathan) Hovis got the save, He's our guy now."

Keoni Ruth hit his second homer of the year Tuesday, and Hovis picked up his fourth save while lowering his ERA to 1.89 in 10 games. Honeycutt worked seven innings and struck out nine to improve to 1-1.

P.J. Walters has been the ace, with a 5-1 record and 2.83 ERA over 35 innings of work.

"P.J. is doing a nice job," Macaluso said. "He tired in the sixth (on Monday) but he was cruising. He's thrown a lot of innings this season. Hopefully, we'll get three more quality starts out of him."

Heath Rollins (3-1, 2.48) has also done well.

Prior to Wednesday's game, Brewster has hit .247 as a team, with Dan Dorn (.316), Aaron Bates (.283), Matt Cusick (.280) and Tommy Lentz (.279) leading the way.

"We can hit with anybody," Macaluso said. "I like our position players."

Pitching has been sub-par. The team ERA of 3.98 prior to Wednesday's game ranked ninth out of the 10 teams. Excluding Walters and Rollins, the staff has a 5-15 record, but Honeycutt's gritty could be a harbinger of good times to come.

"This is a good group of guys. Everybody comes to the yard and plays hard," Macaluso said. "That's all you can ask. I'd like to get a couple more Ws though."