10 August 2006

Furbush wins Claffey Award for New England top prospect

Charlie Furbush (St. Joseph's, Maine) had plenty of highlights this season, between starting the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game, throwing a no-hitter against the Bourne Braves and pitching 8 1/3 innings to beat the No. 1 team in the league, the Cotuit Kettleers. All these accomplishments culminated Sunday in Hyannis when the lefty was awarded the league's sixth John Claffey New England Top Prospect Award.

The award goes to a player who either lives or plays for a college in the New England area. Furbush falls under both qualifications, as he calls South Portland, Maine home and has been one of St. Joseph's ace pitchers the past two years. He will be transferring to LSU in the fall. Though he has played most of his baseball in Maine, Furbush credits a large part of his success to playing in the Cape League.

"I love it down here, coming from a Division III school, always getting to play against good competition and having a pitching coach to work with every day has helped a lot," said Furbush. "It's been a lot of fun."

Claffey, the award's namesake, was general manager of the Wareham Gatemen from 1984 to 1989 and led his team to three playoffs with one season ending in a league championship. After that he served as CCBL president from 1990 to 1991. Previous winners of the prestigious award are Wareham's Ben Crockett (Harvard), Ryan Hanigan (Rollins) of Orleans, Chris Lambert (Boston College) of Chatham and Frank Curreri (UMass) of Yarmouth-Dennis. Last season, Tim Norton (UConn) of Falmouth was honored with the award.

Furbush posted a 3-2 record this season and was 10th in the league with a 1.83 ERA. He threw 54 innings for the Hyannis Mets, first on the team and second among all pitchers. He struck out 50 batters while surrendering only 13 walks and 11 earned runs in nine appearances, including seven starts.

This was Furbush's second season with the Mets and he was instrumental in helping the Mets to a 16-24-3 record, a major step in the right direction from their 7-36-1 record last year.

"It's a personal satisfaction to see how much a young player has grown from an average pitcher with above average stuff to an above average pitcher with above average stuff," said Furbush's coach Greg King. "We didn't have a real vocal leader on the team this year but he went out there and led by his performance. Every time he was on the mound the guys knew they had a chance to win."

Furbush will be taking a giant leap this year, going from small St. Joseph's to the talent-filled SEC playing for LSU. The jump should be a lot easier for him, though, now that he has spent two summers facing - and dominating - some of the best players in the country.

By Kevin Wolfe, CCBL Intern.