14 June 2006

Mariners open season Thursday

The Harwich Mariners aren’t all here yet, and some may never arrive, but they will open their Cape Cod Baseball League season Thursday night at Wareham at 7 p.m. 

Their first home game is Friday night against Orleans at 7 p.m. 

The Mariners have tapped three Nebraska hurlers: lefties Jared Cranston and Tony Watson and righty Johnny Dorn. They also have a pair from Seton Hall, righty Dan McDonald and lefty Dan Merklinger. McDonald was on the Mariners last year and posted a 1-2 record with a 4:46 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 34 innings of work. 

Infielder Chad Flack of North Carolina, had 160 at bats with the Mariners last year and will try to improve on last year’s .160 average. He did hit three home runs and knocked home 16. Flack has good speed. 

Three of the Mariners have been invited to try out for Team USA: infielder/pitcher Sean Doolittle of Virginia, pitcher Nick Schmidt of Arkansas and infielder/pitcher Damon Sublett of Wichita State. 

Nick Hill of the U.S. Military Academy is a hard-throwing lefty from Bluff City, Tenn. He has been drafted by the Boston Red Sox with the 1,415th pick. 

Other pitchers include Rob Brant of Pittsburgh, Joel Brookens of North Carolina State, Josh Ellis of Wake Forest, Tommy Hunter of Alabama and Brett Jacobson of Vanderbilt (a teammate of Harwich’s own Cody Crowell with the Commodores). 

The outfielders are Antone DeJesus of Kentucky, Brandon Guyer of Virginia, Matt Hague of Washington and Matt Spencer of North Carolina. Hague and Spencer are both big sluggers. 

In addition to Flack, the infield will be built around Sean Doolittle if he doesn’t make Team USA. Last year, he got only 18 at bats with the Mariners, collecting five hits. 

Johnny Giavotella of New Orleans, Josh Horton of North Carolina, who was leading Carolina with a .398 average; and Sergio Miranda of Virginia Commonwealth round out the infield crew. 

The catchers are Eric Fryer of Ohio State and Devin Thomas of Brown. 

News of last year’s team 

Last year the Mariners were 21-23, not a bad record, but there’s not much carryover from year to year. Every year is a completely fresh beginning. 

Speaking of beginnings, quite a few recent Mariners were tapped in the Major League Baseball draft last month. 

Pitcher Tim Lincecum of Washington was picked 10th overall by the San Francisco Giants. Lincecum was 2-2 for the Mariners last year with a microscopic 0.69 ERA. He made three starts and 16 relief appearances for Harwich. 

Pitcher Adam Ottavino of Northeastern was picked 30th by the St. Louis Cardinals. He also posted a 2-2 record for Harwich with a 1.76 ERA in eight starts. 

Kevin Mulvey of Villanova was picked 62nd by the New York Mets. He was 3-3 last year for Harwich with a 2.73 ERA. 

Pat Bresnahan (Arizona State) was taken 140th by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was 1-0 last year with a 1.42 ERA. 

The first Harwich non-pitcher taken was Scott Sizemore of Virginia Commonwealth, 142nd by Detroit. He hit a solid .303 for Harwich with 1 homer with 46 hits. 

Pitcher George Kontos of Northwestern was taken 164th by the New York Yankees. He was 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA for Harwich last year. 

Outfielder John Shelby of Kentucky went 165th to the Chicago White Sox. He hit .177 last year. 

Pitcher Harold Mozingo was taken 167th by the Kansas City Royals. He posted a 4-2 record and 2.91 ERA with Harwich. 

Slugger Jim Negrych went to Pittsburgh went to the Pirates with the 170th pick. He belted a team-high six homers last year. 

Pitcher Dan Brauer (Northwestern) was tapped 187th by the Phillies. He played for the 2004 Mariners. 

Catcher Matt Morizo (Northeastern) went to Kansas City with the 497th pick. He hit .277 last year. 

Current team member Tony Watson was drafted 505th by the Orioles, and Jared Cranston was taken 1,016th by the Giants. They could sign this summer. 

Kyle Parker was taken 711th by the Seattle Mariners. He was 3-3 with 2.30 ERA for Harwich last summer. 

Chris Emanuele of Northeastern, who the Mariners picked up from Brewster last year, was taken by Texas with the 780th pick. He hit .312 last year and was an all-star. 

Pitcher Ryan LaMotta, who was with Harwich in 2004, was taken by Detroit with the 1102nd pick, and Blake Lalli of Gardner-Webb was signed as a free agent by the Cubs. Lalli hit .133 for Harwich in limited action. 

- R.E.