15 June 2006

Braves face Kettleers in season opener

By Dave Colantuono

With the distinctive crack of a wooden bat ringing in the air, the Cape Cod Baseball League is set to kick off another season.

The famed league will celebrate its 121st year with a full slate of games today, none more intriguing than a matchup of last year's Western Division playoff foes, as Cotuit travels to Bourne to take on the Braves at their new state-of-the-art field.

"It will be a college caliber field that could be one of the best summer league fields in the nation," says third-year General Manager Mike Carrier.

The Kettleers will mark their 60th year at serene Lowell Field Friday when they host Brewster in their 2006 home opener.

Catcher is one position Kettleer GM Bruce Murphy won't have to worry about, as 2005 team MVP Sean Gaston recently returned to the team.

Rated as the top defensive catcher in the Big East, the Notre Dame catcher followed a solid summer behind the plate for the Kettleers with a .320 season for the Fighting Irish.

"It's great to have Sean back, it gives us a steady influence behind the plate," says Murphy.

Joining Gaston from last year's division runners-up will be pitchers Daniel Moskos (Clemson) Tim Ladd (Georgia Tech) and center fielder Julio Bourbon (Tennessee).

All three are currently missing from camp as Moskos and Ladd face each other tomorrow in the CWS and Bourbon tries out for Team USA.

"We've lost about 10 players to summer school, the World Series and Team USA," says Murphy, who has 13 replacement players in camp at the moment, including Centerville resident and 2005 Barnstable HS grad Matt Costello.

The Kettleers once again will be built around speed, which is just fine with coach Roberts, who has been busy drilling his players on the art of base running.

Leading the way on the base paths will be Matt Angle a centerfielder and track star from Ohio State, and freshman All-American Tony Delmonico of Tennessee.

Delmonico is one of three freshman All-Americans on the roster and is joined by Kyle Russell (Texas) and Justin Smoak, who led South Carolina with 17 home runs and 63 RBIs during his freshman campaign.

Providing additional power in the Kettleer lineup will be Kellen Kulbacki (James Madison), who led the nation with 24 in home runs and is a finalist for college player of the year.

"He's a big strong kid that has a lot of power," says Murphy. "But we'll see how he adjusts to the wooden bats."

With much of the Braves' off-season fieldwork in the hands of the Upper Cape Tech staff and students, Carrier and field manager Harvey Shapiro were busy building a team to compete on their new grounds.

"It really doesn't settle down for me until the first of July," says Carrier of the demands of putting together a roster.

With the College World Series and Team USA tryouts diluting his roster, Carrier has relied on the experience of his manager to assist in player evaluations and acquisitions. The tandem worked well together last year, as the Braves rode the strength of their pitching staff to the third game of the championship before falling to Orleans.

Carrier expects similar results from this year's staff, led by University of North Carolina closer Andrew Carignan, who came out of the pen for the Braves during the 2005 season.

The hard-throwing righty led the Tar Heels with 13 saves and is currently participating in the CWS.

At the top of the rotation Shapiro will look to Bobby Bell (Rice), Trevor Holder (Georgia) and Mike Stutes (Oregon State) to replace the production of last year's starters, Greg Reynolds and Brad Lincoln, both of whom were drafted in the top 10 of last week's MLB amateur draft.

The Braves hope to have Team USA invitee Austin Krum patrolling their outfield in the near future. The Dallas Baptist junior led his team with a .368 average this spring, and will play a key roll in the Braves lineup.

"Hopefully he'll come back [from tryouts] and do some damage for us," says Carrier.

In a league struggling to find catching, the Braves face a crisis as both pre-season signees, Preston Clark and Preston Paramore, will likely miss the season leaving Carrier and Shapiro beating the bushes for replacements.