14 June 2007

Pickler sets sights on another title

By Don Sherlock
GateHouse News Service
Thu Jun 14, 2007, 01:05 PM EDT 

Cape Cod - The Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox will be looking for their third Cape Cod Baseball League Championship in four years in manager Scott Pickler’s 10th year at the helm when they open the season at Hyannis’ McKeon Field tomorrow at 5 p.m.
Buster Posey of Florida State and 2006 league Pitcher of the Year Terry Doyle of Boston College return from last year’s championship team, which had the league’s best overall record (28-16). Doyle will go to the mound in the opener at Hyannis.

    Posey, who turned down a bid from Team USA, was second in the league with 46 hits and ninth with a .289 average, played shortstop and pitched last season. But he told Pickler he’ll be a catcher this season, because that’s what he does for the Seminoles.

    Infielder Gordon Beckham of Georgia, a Baseball America Freshman All-American in 2006 who had to skip last summer’s season because of an injury, will be here this season with pitcher-catcher Luis Flores of Houston and infielder Aaron Luna of Rice, Freshman All-Americans this season.
Diego Seastrunk of Rice will split duties between the infield and the mound once his Owls finish playing in the College World Series.

    Probably the most famous of this year’s edition of the Y-D Red Sox will be Boston College second baseman Johnny Ayers, who led the Eagles in hitting this season with a .328 average and stole 10 bases in 13 attempts.

    Ayers is best known for smacking the first pitch Dice K Matsuzaka of the Boston Red Sox threw in the United States for a line-drive double.

    It happened in Fort Myers, Fla. in March when the BC baseball team hooked up with the Red Sox early in spring training. Ayers was in the leadoff spot that day and hit Dice K’s fastball down the left field line.

    Pickler is hoping Ayers can duplicate that for his Red Sox.
More than 80 of Pickler’s players have been drafted over the years, including hard-hitting first baseman Matt LaPorta (2004), who was picked seventh this year in the first round by the Milwaukee Brewers.

    First baseman-outfielder Mike Tamsin of Northeastern will join Doyle and Ayers on the Red Sox as the third New Englander on this year’s team.

    Because nine of his original 12 pitchers are not coming to Y-D for various reasons, including injuries, defecting to Team USA and playing in the College World Series, Y-D will be hoping its second line of hurlers steps up big. 

    Pickler is counting on Doyle to repeat last year’s performance. “He had a hand injury [at BC] so his stats weren’t great, but he knows how to compete and he’s excited to be back,” says Pickler of Doyle, who was drafted by the Dodgers.

    Unlike many seasons, however, the Red Sox will have most of the players on their roster ready for opening day. “Except for Luna and Seastrunk, most of the players are in,” Pickler says.

By Don Sherlock