23 August 2006

Cape League gives out awards

     In the first game of this year's Cape Cod Baseball League Eastern Division playoffs, the pitching matchup was Shaun Seibert (Arkansas) of the Brewster Whitecaps and Terry Doyle (Boston College) of the Y-D Red Sox.

Seibert came out on top that day, giving up just four hits in six innings, but he and Doyle shared top billing among Cape League pitchers, as they were named co-winners of the B.F.C. Whitehouse Award.

In compiling a perfect 6-0 record and 0.39 ERA, Seibert was the league leader in both categories. He allowed just 26 hits in 46 innings and earned the start for the Eastern Division in the All-Star Game. His ERA was third in the modern era.

Doyle, who is from Warwick, R.I., ended the summer with five wins and was second in strikeouts with 52. In eight starts, Doyle's regular season highlight was a 12-strikeout no-hitter of the Chatham A's on July 16.

In the final game of the league championship series against Wareham, he led the Red Sox to victory by pitching four perfect innings to begin his winning effort.

The second Brewster player to earn the prestigious Daniel Silva Sportsmanship Award was Matt LaPorta (Florida), who displayed not only great baseball talent this summer, but also exhibited outstanding sportsmanship on and off the field.

This year, LaPorta was chosen by the Boston Red Sox in the 14th round of the draft and was the object of much attention by the scouts this summer. It was his second season in the CCBL, having played with Y-D in 2004

"Matt wanted to become the leader of the team and the guys looked up to him," Brewster manager Bob Macaluso said. "Matt played the game with a lot of enthusiasm and was very personable on and off the field."

LaPorta led his team in homers all summer and ended the season with six. He was one of the league leaders in slugging percentage at .463, and finished first on the Whitecaps with 19 RBI.

This year's Robert A. McNeece Outstanding Pro Prospect Award winner was Matt Wieters (Georgia Tech) of the Orleans Cardinals.

Wieters finished the Cape League season with a .307 batting average and eight home runs, both good for second in the league. He also finished second in the league in on-base percentage at .417.

Orleans' assistant coach Robb Gorr called him "the best hitter on the Cape. You don't need the stats to see that."

Wieters had some truly memorable performances during his season of Cape League play. At Eldredge Park, Wieters hit a home run off the bandstand in right center field, a shot usually reserved for home run derby participants.

David Robertson (Alabama) of Y-D was the playoff MVP. Robertson struck out 15 batters in 15 postseason innings, leading all pitchers in both categories, and did not allow a baserunner.

Falmouth catcher Andrew Walker (Texas Christian) won the Manny Robello 10th Player Award. In 37 games for the Commodores, Walker hit .271 with 16 runs, two homers and 19 RBI.