11 Jul 2007

Gagg is silencing Cape League bats

By George Kostinas
GateHouse News Service

Wed Jul 11, 2007, 02:55 PM EDT 

Cape Cod - “Workhorse” might just be the best word to describe Bobby Gagg of the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
A right-hand pitcher from Coastal Carolina University, Gagg has a 3-0 record as a starter and along with Terry Doyle of Boston College and Eddie Burns of Georgia Tech leads the Red Sox in wins.

While Gagg is just one of several good pitchers on the league-leading Red Sox staff, he has been the hardest working.
Just his appearance, stocky, even at 6-feet tall, with a barrel torso and thick, powerful legs, brings to mind the image of a workhorse.
And his statistics, so far, support that image.

Gagg, Doyle and Burns lead the team in games started with four each.

And although Nick Cassavechia of Baylor has more appearances with eight, Gagg and Matt Wickswat of Santa Clara are tied for second on the team with five.

However, he has pitched more innings than both of those pitchers combined. 

In fact, he trails only Doyle (30) in innings pitched with 29 2/3, which includes four innings in relief to earn a save.

In three of his four starts he went into the late innings, going eight innings in his first start and then seven innings in the next two.
His performance in the Cape Cod Baseball League, so far has been a continuation of his play last season at Coastal Carolina.
As a sophomore he led the team with a 12-2 record and with 112 innings pitched in 17 starts to help Coastal Carolina to a 50-13 record.

In the first round of the NCAA regional tournament he pitched 7 1/3 innings in a 7-1 win over Virginia Commonwealth.
He has the attitude of a workhorse as well; he just doesn’t want to come off the mound.

Saturday against Falmouth, Gagg had a 4-0 lead going into the second inning. But he didn’t have his good stuff, and the Commodores tagged him for four straight singles, scoring two runs.

“He wasn’t hitting his marks, and he was in trouble every inning,” says Y-D field manager Scott Pickler.

But he continued to battle and despite getting knocked around for three more hits and surviving his own throwing error on a grounder back to the mound that should have been an easy double play, he did not give up any runs.

When Pickler came to the mound to call in a relief pitcher after only 4 1/3 innings, Gagg objected and got himself into some trouble with the coaching staff.

That was the competitor in the heat of battle.

“I knew this was the most prestigious league in the country, and I just wanted to do what I did last year [at Coastal Carolina] and show why I was successful,” says Gagg.

The high level of competitiveness in the Cape League, he also acknowledges, has had a lot to do with his success this summer.
“You’re facing everybody’s number three and four hitters in every game. To do well here you’ve got to step it up with everybody else,” says Gagg.

And he also credits the players surrounding him.

“I’ve never been a strikeout pitcher [even though he led the Coastal Carolina staff with 84 strikeouts last year], so when you’re playing with players at this level game in and game out, it makes it a lot easier; it takes the pressure off,” says Gagg. “This is the best infield I’ve ever played with.”

He just might be right about that as the Red Sox infield is making all the pitchers look good. The Y-D staff leads the league with a 2.35 ERA.

The offense is doing its part, too. Y-D is second in the league in hitting with a team batting average of .269.
It all adds up to a league leading 16-5-1 record for the Red Sox, and Bobby Gagg has been a big part of it.