23 June, 2005

Hyannis Mets battle Harwich for Nantucket Pennant Trophy

Cape League notes

For the fourth straight season, the Hyannis Mets will host a game at picturesque Tom Nevers Field on Nantucket Island.

The Mets, who split with the Falmouth Commodores during the past two summers, will entertain the Harwich Mariners, Saturday June 25 at 2 p.m., in the annual Nantucket Pennant Game.

The game is a fund-raiser for Nantucket Babe Ruth Baseball. Prior to the game the Mariners will host a Babe Ruth clinic at Nevers Field, while the Mets host a Little League clinic at the double field complex on Nantucket.

Around the Cape League horn

Faces in the Crowd: Brad Mills, bench coach for the Boston Red Sox, attended Thursday's Bourne at Cotuit season-opener to watch his son, Beau Mills (Fresno State) play for the Braves.

All in the Family:Roddy Ames (Colby) enjoyed a memorable beginning to the season, playing in the Wareham Tryout and U.S. Military Game as a Cotuit Kettleer and then starting the first three games of the regular season at first base for the Hyannis Mets. His father, Rodney Ames of Ames Electric, came to the rescue, fixing the electronic scoreboard at McKeon Park during the Military Game.

Partnership:New corporate partners for the Cape League are BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts, BJ's Wholesale, Nokona, David Sunflower Seeds, 99 Restaurants and Yellow Book.

Homeland Security:League president Judy Walden Scarafile and her husband, Peter Scarafile, Hyannis Mets VP, both pharmacists, are part of the Cape Cod Medical Reserve and completed a course on Terrorist Activity: Recognition and Reaction, offered by Homeland Security.


Harwich pitcher player of the week

Hard-hitting catcher JP Lowen (Kentucky) immediately made his presence felt for the Harwich Mariners on opening night, slugging two long home runs and collecting five RBI in a 6-3 win over the visiting Chatham A's. Lowen was just signed to a Mariners contract last week and drove all the way to Cape Cod from the Blue Grass State in his jeep. 

Falmouth's Norton pitcher of the week

Falmouth right-hander Tim Norton (Connecticut) hurled a two-hitter and struck out nine over eight innings Friday at McKeon Park, leading the Commodores to a 7-0 win over the Hyannis Mets. The 6 foot 5 inch pitcher was impressive from the start, striking out five consecutive Mets in the second and third innings. The Franklin native allowed just two singles, including an infield scratch hit. The hard-throwing junior retired the last 13 batters he faced before exiting after his 107-pitch outing.

WEST DIVISION

Braves' Mills in a "win-win" situation

Not many 18-year-olds have as many options as Bourne Braves third baseman Beau Mills has this summer. Then again, when you're as talented as the Visalia, Calif. native, it's easy to see why.

Mills, son of Boston Red Sox bench coach and fill-in manager Brad Mills, batted .319 and led the Western Athletic Conference with 22 home runs as a freshman at Fresno State this spring. Mills also led the Bulldogs with 63 RBI and a .699 slugging percentage. Those stats weren't unnoticed by the folks who compile Team USA, as they invited Mills to their tryouts starting June 27 in Raleigh, N.C.

"It's a win-win situation for me," noted the 6-3, 210-pounder. "It'd be a great accomplishment to play for Team USA and I'd feel proud to wear the uniform with USA on the front and play in places like Japan. But if it doesn't work out, I have a great fallback in playing in the premiere college league in the country."

The left-handed-hitting third baseman knows gaining a spot on the national team won't be easy, but it helps to get sage advice from someone who knows what it takes to get to the major leagues - his dad.

"He really wants me to get the experience of playing [baseball] every day [this summer]," said the younger Mills. Beau's father and mother were both on hand Thursday in Cotuit to watch their son play in his first Cape league game against the Kettleers. "He wants me to know what it's like to play 12-13 days in a row, whether for Team USA or here in the Cape League." 

Scott Sanford, CCBL Website Editor, sanford@capecodbaseball.org

Furbush making a name In Hyannis 

Bursting onto the Cape League scene like a meteor shower has been 6-5 freshman hurler Charlie Furbush of the Hyannis Mets.

Although he posted a 6-0 record with a 1.01 ERA and was North Atlantic Conference Co-Player of the Year for Division III St. Joseph's, Maine, the hard-throwing southpaw was under the CCBL radar screen just two weeks ago.

But that was before three successive powerful performances in the CCBL Tryout in Wareham, Military Game and season-opener against the defending champion Y-D Red Sox.

Furbush, whose fastball has been clocked at 93 mph, struck out all six batters he faced in Wareham, prompting an impressed call from tryout coordinator John Wylde to Baseball America and a quick agreement with GM John Howitt and the Hyannis Mets.

The South Portland, Maine native pitched a scoreless fifth inning with two strikeouts against the touring U.S. Military All-Stars, then was named opening-day starter by Coach Greg King against Y-D and hurled four scoreless innings and allowing three hits with five strikeouts.

John Garner, Jr., Director of Public Relations & Broadcasting, johnwgarner@earthlink.net