22 June 2006

Wareham spoils Braves opener in new home

The Sunday afternoon message from the Bourne Braves was "Happy Father's Day."

Bourne entertained the rival Wareham Gatemen in a new setting on a new field at Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School off Sandwich Road. It was supposed to be a Braves show, and for a time it was. Their pitching prevailed until the eighth inning when Wareham scored five runs to take a 5-2 lead for its ultimate 6-2 win.

It was opening day at home for the Braves organization that has played at Hendy Field in Taylors Point fog and through blinding sunsets at Coady Field, Bourne village, since 1988.

"This is amazing," said UCT superintendent Barry Motta. "There's still work to do. Somebody said in the early going that this would never happen. That's when I made up my mind it would happen. And it has."

Baseball at all levels, it seems, is like that. The Braves offered sentiment from Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in their pre-game materials: "One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in awhile you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something."

Braves Field is a marvel, reaching 390 feet to deep centerfield and stretching toward the tree line at Camp Edwards. The shadows duly lengthen after 5 p.m., but the setting sun does not hamper the pitching. One day, there will be lights at the complex.

The field was built by UCT students with help from professional contractors, electricians and carpenters; much of it was donated time to make college summer baseball in this part of the sand dune that is the Cape League a bigger attraction.

The dugouts are of red-brick fa硤e as is the backstop with its black netting above. The press box is a work in progress.

The "Take me out to the ballgame" aspects of the home opener, however, were intact. Think peanuts and pizza, burgers and nachos. And ice cream. And pre-school kids with dads in tow wondering what bad-hops and forced-outs are.

The UCT parking lot filled to near capacity as players from Tulane, Duke, Akron, Tulsa, Louisiana State, the University of Texas - and even Harvard and Yale - took to the new field for the opening ceremonial pitch by Stanley "Froggy" Eldridge of the Bourne Highway Department and the flag presentation by longtime Braves fan John Hendricks of East Falmouth.

Three Braves return from last season: Andy Goff of Wake Forest, Bret Bartles of Duke and Andrew Carignan of North Carolina.

Thomas Farmer (Akron) had a no-hitter going for the Braves through 5 2/3 dominating innings, and only two Gatemen reached base during his tenure on the mound.

Jake Steward (Florida) of the Braves slapped the first hit at the new field in the second inning.