14 June 2007

Bourne hoping it will be a Brave new season

By George Kostinas
GateHouse News Service
Thu Jun 14, 2007, 01:42 PM EDT 


Bourne - Brian Pugh, assistant coach for the Bourne Braves, told the audience at the Cape Cod Baseball League’s First Pitch Brunch Sunday how excited he was to come back to Cape Cod and how he and Braves field manager Harvey Shapiro had discussed this season’s roster.
“I told him, ‘I don’t care where they [the players] come from. I don’t care if they’re right-handed or left-handed or whatever. All I want is to put together a team that can get more wins than rain outs,” said Pugh, and the crowd of coaches and assorted Cape League officials burst out laughing.
Pugh was referring to the 32 rained out games in the CCBL last season, which matched the number of losses the Braves had last season.
But Pugh was definitely serious about winning more games.
Last year the Braves suffered through a tough season, winning only nine games while finishing in last place in the Western Division.
“We had a bad season last year. Whatever could go wrong, went wrong,” said Shapiro, who missed the brunch due to his daughter’s wedding, but was on Cape Cod in time for the Braves’ first practice Sunday afternoon.
Despite efforts to put together Pugh’s dream roster, the Braves appear headed for another tough season.
And it is the same story as last year.
“On paper we looked good, but then injuries, Team USA, summer school … we just didn’t get those guys and I was scrambling all season to find players,” said Shapiro.
This year is more of the same as 11 players on the original roster are missing due to the College World Series playoffs and other various reasons.
“I lost two players to Team USA, and I could possibly lose more,” said Shapiro. “I recruited three catchers and all of them are playing in the Super Regionals.”
Recruiting three catchers seems rather odd, but it made perfect sense to Shapiro, who went through 11 catchers last season.
“I was excited about our pitching staff but I’ve already lost four pitchers,” he said.
The Braves, like many other teams in the Cape League, will have to use replacement “temporary” players until the original players join the team.
But the Braves seem to have more than their fair share.
“The temporary players, right now, make up almost half the squad,” said Shapiro, who emphasized the importance of getting the players in early.
“Two years ago when we went to the playoffs, I think of the pitching staff we had. Four of my top five pitchers were in early. I was lucky,” said Shapiro. “Two years out of the last four we had more players in early, but you just don’t know. I still don’t have three catchers and it’s hard to find catchers on a permanent basis.”
For a 10-year veteran coach in the Cape League, however, this is nothing new and Shapiro will focus on working to build a team with what he has.
And he’s got a few good ones.
Mitch Harris, a right-handed pitcher, had a good season with the U.S. Naval Academy with a 2.14 earned run average and should be a strong starter for the Braves.
Steven Hensley, another right-hander from Elon College, gives Bourne a second solid pitcher in the rotation.
Offensively the Braves have a solid hitter in Matt Hall of Arizona State, their only returning player. “He was here as a freshman and he has a chance to be a good player. He had a good year at Arizona State,” said Shapiro. But Hall is with the Sun Devils in the playoffs.
Addison Maruszak of South Florida is a shortstop with a quick bat.
“He had a good year at South Florida. He’s a good player and we’re looking forward to having him,” said Shapiro.
After that it will be a situation to wait and see who shows up and when.
“Usually it is not the first team, but the second and third team that you recruit,” said Shapiro.
The real concern for Shapiro as the season begins is the tough schedule.
“We play 11 games in 12 days, and I just don’t like it, but it’s the same for every other team. It’s more strenuous than the first week of a major league season. That puts a lot of pressure on the pitchers, the coaches and the team.”
The Braves open against the always tough Kettleers at Cotuit’s Lowell Park tomorrow night at 5.