For a team shocked and rocked by adversity, they never quit. Every game they came to play and every game they worked hard, but, in the end, they defined the term snake-bit.

As the end of the season neared, the goal was gaining that eighth win so as to finish with more victories than the Hyannis Mets’ record-setting season in 2005 when they won just seven games. On August 2 in the first of two with the Falmouth Commodores, the Braves passed the infamous mark set last summer by Coach Greg King and his club. This summer King and the Mets rebounded to finish fourth at 16-24-3.
Sunday the Bourne Braves put the finishing touches on the season with a 4-3 victory over the playoff-bound Wareham Gatemen (24-19-1). Mickey Storey (Florida Atlantic) showed why he was one of the original players selected by the Braves with a strong seven-inning performance allowing two runs, only one earned, on six hits to claim the win. He finished the season with a record of 2-3 and ERA of 3.64, having struck out 48 opposing batters in 47 innings of work. Sunday night he struck out six. As a club the Braves finished last in ERA in the Cape League at 3.95. The staff was second best to Wareham (11) in homeruns allowed, giving up just 16 round-trippers this summer.

The Braves scored twice in the second inning Sunday at Spillane Field in Wareham taking a lead that they would never give up. Andy Goff (Wake Forest) and Drew Davis (Elon) scored in the second, with Davis driving in Goff and Ty Wright (Oklahoma State) singling into right field to score Davis. In the top of the third Austin Krum (Dallas Baptist) drove in Cat Everett (Tulane), with Mitch Moreland (Mississippi State) giving Bourne its fourth run when he raced home on a throwing error.

The Gatemen picked up a run in the fifth and another in the seventh. Their ninth inning-rally stalled as starter Bobby Bell (Rice), pitching in relief, wrapped it up for the Braves, stranding the tying run at second base and earning his first save of the season.

Ty Wright, who arrived on the Cape late, went 2-for-5 picking up his 25th and 26th hits in 26 games played.

Friday afternoon’s contest at McKeon Field in Hyannis was cancelled because of rain leaving the Braves with their final two games of the season against Wareham. Saturday’s contest was at home, the final game to the 2006 season at the Braves’ new field at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School turned into a 4-3 loss for Bourne. The Gatemen had clinched second place in the Western Division the night before, but Bourne wasn’t about to let them sit back and savor their success. Tom Farmer (Akron) got the start going six innings allowing three runs, only one of which was earned, on three hits. His teammates committed two of their three errors of the afternoon behind him leading to a couple of the Wareham runs.

The Gatemen scored first, but by the bottom of the third the Braves tied it at 1-1. Wareham again pulled ahead going up 3-1, but again Bourne came back with two runs in the seventh. It wasn’t until the top of the ninth that the Gatemem again took the lead, this time for good.

Cat Everett led Bourne at the plate going 2-for-3 with a walk and two RBI. He finished the season with a .326 on base percentage and was second on the team in walks with 24. Everett finished the season hitting .177. The Braves finished last in the league with a team batting average of .201.
Andrew Carignan (UNC) took the loss for Bourne, after giving up the winning run in the ninth.

Andy Goff was selected by the Braves as the team’s most Outstanding Defensive Player of the year with better than a .990 fielding percentage. Mitch Moreland was chosen as the team’s Outstanding Offensive Player of the year. He led the team in games played (43), total bases (53), doubles (eight), homeruns (four), RBI (20), walks (37), slugging percentage (.384) and on base percentage (.401).

Tom Farmer and Andrew Carignan shared the honor for Outstanding Braves Pitcher. Farmer (1-3) led the team in ERA at 1.75 in eight starts and 46 and one-third innings pitched. Carrignan (0-3) made 12 appearances out of the bullpen and finished with three saves.

The four Bourne all-stars made the trip to Fenway Park Thursday for the Cape League Recognition Night. Carrignan, Farmer, Moreland, and Brett Bartles (Duke) joined the rest of the league’s top players for introductions on the field before the game.

For Bartles, who played for Bourne last year, it was his second trip to the venerable old ball yard and a chance to visit with 2005 Braves’ teammate Nick Francona, who just happened to be at the game. Bartles joined his old teammate in the Red Sox locker room, where he ran into Tim Wakefield, David Ortiz, and Gabe Kapler.

“It was quite an experience,” Bartles admitted. “I had an unbelievable time; Fenway never lets me down. It may be old, but it’s filled with a baseball atmosphere. The Red Sox have done a fabulous job with the park, keeping it up to date, while at the same time retaining that sense of history that the Boston fans deserve and Fenway brings.”

Pitchers Craig Hansen (Harwich ‘04) and Jon Lester presented the Cape Leaguers with all-star plaques before the game. For the Cape League’s home run hitting champ, Mississippi State’s Mitch Moreland, and Cotuit’s Jeff Rea the trip was highlighted by a visit with MSU alumni Jonathan Papelbon.
“Coach (Ron) Polk from Mississippi State was at the game,” Moreland said. “When Jeffery (Rea) and I saw him we called out. He was talking with Papelbon, and they called us over. We stood their and talked with them for 20 minutes or so.”

As it is every year for all the Cape League All-Stars who make the trip, Fenway Park never leaves them disappointed. 

“It was my first time at Fenway, and it was everything people had made it out to be,” Moreland said with a big smile. “I can see why everybody is diehard Red Sox up here. Being there makes you jump on the Red Sox bandwagon. It’s an older stadium, but that’s what makes Fenway great. You can feel the history when you walk in.”